Living By Faith
By Janelle Hill
At the hospital where I work, patients are asked to state their religion or faith on their admission forms. There are often various answers including Christian, Muslim, Buddhist etc. In Australia, with our multi-cultural history and Western influences, the word ‘faith’ has many different meanings and inferences. Sometimes the word faith is used interchangeably with the word ‘religion’. Some people consider faith as tradition – going to church, or being christened or married in a church. Others may consider faith to be a creed or set of standards to live by; and the cynical may consider faith to be blind trust, something for fools or the uneducated.
So what is true Christian faith?
Faith to Be Sons of God
The Bible defines faith as ‘the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen’. Heb 11:1. This verse tells us that we have faith for something – something we cannot yet see properly. But what is this ‘unseen’ thing? The Bible says that faith in Jesus Christ makes us sons of God. Gal 3:26. It also says ‘we are now God’s children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him’. 1 Jn 3:2.
Can you see the connection between these verses? We can be made the sons of God now through faith in Jesus Christ, but this process is not yet completed. The finished product, mature sons of God, is what we hope for, but it is not yet seen. We are immature sons now but God is progressively making us like Him as we walk on in faith.
Our faith is more than just believing in a set of principles to live by. We do not just have ‘a faith’, we live ‘by faith’ – the faith of God. Living by faith actually causes a miracle of change to happen in us. As a result, we do things in faith which is working by love, not because we have a code which tells us the right thing to do. God is changing our very nature to be more like Him.
Just believing that God exists is not the faith that makes us sons. The apostle James said, ‘you believe that there is one God, you do well; even the demons believe and tremble’. Jas 2:19. Faith in God has to do with relationship with God. God wants to relate directly to us just as human fathers relate to their children. He wants us to share His nature and characteristics, just as human fathers do. He knows us individually, and even knows how many hairs we have on our heads. He saw us before we were formed in the womb, and no one was born ‘accidentally’. God loves each of us so much that He sent Jesus so that we could be saved and become sons of God. Matt 10:30, Psa 139:13, Jn 1:13, 3:16.
Faith is received, not manufactured
The Bible tells the story of a soldier whose son was paralysed and very sick. This soldier said to Jesus, ‘please speak the word and my son will be healed’. Jesus was amazed at this soldier’s faith, so He responded by simply speaking a word which brought healing to his son. Matt 8. The soldier knew that the power for change was in the word of God. The Bible says that ‘God cannot lie’. Whatever He says is true and happens. The word that He sends to you contains all the faith you need for that word to come to pass.
Faith is a daily reality
Receiving faith and living by faith transforms us day by day, so that we are not just referred to as ‘sons of God’, but we actually are sons. It is important, however, to realise that this process of receiving faith and becoming sons of God does not originate with us. We do not become sons of God by being good, or trying really hard to behave like one. We have no capacity in ourselves to be sons of God. Instead, we depend on Jesus Who is the ‘author and perfector of our faith’. Heb 12:2.
We have already said that faith is not a list of beliefs or a code to live by. Neither is faith a single decision or ‘stand’ we made at some past point in time. This kind of belief has no power to change us. It is ‘static’, like the law which says ‘if you steal you will be punished’. It may provide a standard to live up to, but has no power in it to change anyone for the better.
Real faith is dynamic and active. This is because it comes to us through the ‘dynamic’ word of God. The word we heard at the commencement of our Christian walk is not sufficient to sustain us onwards. No! We hear a word from God each day. His word is not generic but applies directly to us as individuals and to our circumstances each day. God’s word is written in the Bible, but it also comes as a specific word for our lives from the people whom God sends to us. The Christian community is where we hear God’s Living Word. 1 Pet 1:23.
God does not want to be far away from us. He wants to engage us every day so that we walk with Him in a relationship that grows constantly deeper. His intention is to make us His sons and daughters, mature and whole. Faith plays a major role in this change because it gives us the goal and the direction in which we can walk. We can be confident and sure of our hope because ‘He who began this good work in (us), will carry it on until it is finished on the Day of Christ Jesus’. Phil 1:6.
