Faith - Not Emotion

    From My Utmost for His Highest

We walk by faith, not by sight —2 Corinthians 5

How can you be certain of your faith?

Chambers covers a lot of ground today, but makes an interesting point that a “self-assured saint is of no value to God.” If you’re reading Utmost, you probably skew more toward self-assured than unsure, but can either be certain? Should we be certain?

Today we're going to look at both ends of the faith spectrum in . . .

. . . an excerpt from A Rooster Once Crowed:

Imagine three people—a man and a couple—standing atop a cliff with a rope hanging down. The man tells the husband and wife that the rope is strong enough to save them if they were to fall off the cliff. The husband says OK, but the wife really studies the rope, gauges its thickness, checks its mooring and determines with certainty that it would hold her.

If the man fell off the cliff, how much belief in the rope would he need to actually save him? Keller says only enough to grasp the rope.

This may seem like an escape hatch, but the truth is that the wife’s additional certainty in the rope no more saves her than the husband’s grasp. None of us are saved by the quality of our belief. {Tweet} All of us are saved by the quality of the rope.

This truth should help you in one of two ways.

First, if you’re certain in the quality of your faith, don’t be.

Those who spent years with God continually failed, looked to other things for their provision and denied Him. The bit of belief that you have been given is a gift from God and nothing that you should boast about more than sight.

Instead of shining a light on your belief, shine that light on your unbelief. Find the things in your life that are crowding out your Fundamental and seek to eradicate them. Every one of us has sown a crop or more of thorns and, because of that, no matter the quality of our belief, the thorns will show up from time to time.

Lean on belief in the sacrifice of Jesus to root out those thorns and to produce a bountiful crop for which the Lord will have much regard.

Or, if you’re uncertain that you have even the smallest amount of belief, know that in this moment, you hold the power of the universe within your breath. {Tweet}

If you will turn from whatever you have placed your belief in and repent—if you will open your eyes and see yourself standing in front of the prison gate with God standing in front of you—if you will place your fears and love and actions into the hands of the One that has been there all along—then you will begin to feel your hand tighten around the rope and your descent will slow as the great Creator begins to move across the universe, into your heart, and bears you up.

Just as the extremely faithful cannot boast of the quality of their faith, you must not demur from the smallness of yours. {Tweet}

Don’t tarry there (the husband falling off the cliff certainly wishes that he’d seen and believed in the rope sooner), but don’t think for a moment that God didn’t die so that you would utter the words He’s been dying to hear all along. He did.

. . . I’ll leave you with one thing we discussed at its beginning. In the New American Standard Bible, the word “believe” or “believes” or “believed” is translated 259 times. The word “belief” is translated 0 times. You could argue that instead of using the word “belief” the translators used “faith” (378 times), but I think there is something else at play.

“Belief” is something that you can put on a shelf. “Belief” is a project that you look into, make a decision about, determine where you come down on it, and then move on. “Belief” is a noun.

“Believe” is a verb. It requires action. {Tweet} It doesn’t sit idly by while you ignore your spouse or watch bad television. “Believe” follows you around like a tattoo on your face. It defines a house like its paint color on the outside AND the mantel on the inside.

You might have a lot of “beliefs,” but what you “believe” defines you. {Tweet}

Put some action behind it. Jesus gave His life so that you might believe and the entirety of heaven moves to the tune of it.

Join us and believe.

EXCERPTED FROM A Rooster Once Crowed: A Commentary on the Greatest Story Ever Told, Chapter 10-Tune into Life’s Belief (pgs. 161-163). AVAILABLE FORMATS are linked at Full Porch Press.

I can’t wait to hear what you think.

I love you.

#tuneintolifesbelief