Thinking About Faith

“Do not anxiously look about you …”  (Isaiah 41:10, NASB)

 
Let’s take a few minutes to think about faith. The Bible says that without faith we can’t please God, that it has accompanying action, and that it is what gives substance to and evidence of what we believe. For instance in James 2:17, we find scripture saying:

“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

From this verse we can see that true faith has accompanying action that proves its existence. Also, Hebrews 11:1, KJV says:

“ …  faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

True faith gives substance to what we believe causing a resulting action or attitude that is a manifestation of our faith. For instance sitting down in a chair gives evidence that I believe the chair will hold me up, and not collapse when I sit down.

I know I am making faith very simplistic in this, but it really isn’t that complicated of a thing. We use it in the natural realm all the time. It works the same way in the spiritual realm. Faith evidences itself by responding to what we believe, because it gives substance to what we believe, substance that can be trusted and acted upon.

I know of a young lady who moved into a new apartment. Her first evening there she was feeling a bit scared and kept looking out the window to see if she could see anything. Then she prayed and asked God to protect her and her baby in their new home. 

She continued looking out the window and feeling a bit afraid. Then it finally hit her that if she prayed and asked for God for His protection then she needed to   believe that He would do it, and that she needed to quit anxiously looking out her window.

She settled back, quit looking out the window and enjoyed the rest of her evening as God’s peace settled over her and her new apartment

What Were YouThinking...? Part 2

“ … there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes” (Ep 4:23, NLT)

If we are going to act correctly, then we have to think correctly. If self-gratification and self-preservation are at the center of our thinking, we will continue to make wrong decisions, take wrong actions, and say the wrong things. It is about far more than what we think - it goes to how we think, what is at the center of our thinking.  (From What Were You Thinking…? Part 1)

In Ephesians 4 we are told to put off the old man and put on the new man, but sandwiched in between is the admonition to “be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”  Without our minds being renewed (being made new again by a redefining of what we know as truth and what our set course of action is to be based upon that truth), our motivation will continue to be self-preservation and self-gratification. We will continue to act out of the old man instead of the new man who is constantly being renewed into the image of Christ.

If we want to act (respond) out of the new man and live a transformed life that brings glory to God, we will have to move in our thinking from self-preservation and self-gratification to self-sacrifice.  Romans 1:1-2 says “

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Emphasis mine)

Living a transformed life requires that we must think differently. What we know as truth must be in agreement with the Word of God. We can no longer be the center of our lives and thoughts with everything revolving around us, but God must be at the center. Our decisions must be based upon His will and not how it will affect us and our lives.

We must think His thoughts after Him, and desire that He receive glory in all that we think, say, and do. We must sacrifice our self-life, the old man/nature, for His glory and live out the sacrificed life, the new man/nature, which is constantly being transformed into the likeness of Christ.