Faith—A Gift From God
What is faith?
A simple definition could read something like this: “Faith is a confident and obedient trust in the reality, power, and love of God as revealed in His acts and in His promises to us.” What a wonderful gift to have in a terribly fallen and broken world such as ours. No wonder many believe that faith is the most wonderful of all gifts humans could have. Now, the question is: Have you ever tried to discover where your faith originated? Why is it that you have faith in God and others you know don’t? Was it your upbringing? Did you have believing parents? Have you always attended church? Did your study of the Bible, and your reading of books about the Bible, convince you that there is a God who loves you? Did you find satisfying philosophical arguments that prepared you for the “leap” of faith? In the final analysis, faith is a miracle, a gift from God.
How does the apostle Paul underline the gift-character of faith? Eph. 2:8.
One thing is sure: Just as we cannot be fully human without love, we cannot be what we are intended to be without faith. “ ‘Without faith it is impossible to please God.’ . . . Note that Hebrews does not teach that without faith it is difficult to please God, or that without faith it will take a long time to satisfy Him. To the contrary, it claims that it is impossible. In short, faith has no substitute. It is by faith that God’s heroes lived in the past, and it is by faith that His people must live today.”—George R. Knight, Exploring Hebrews: A Devotional Commentary (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald® Publishing Association, 2003), p. 198.
How can we position ourselves in a way that prepares us for the gift of faith? That is, what changes can we make in our lives to make us more receptive to that gift? Rom. 10:17; see also Heb. 11:6.
| Sometimes you hear people say that they wished they had faith. What would you advise such people? What kind of changes might they need to make in order to be more receptive to receiving the gift? See Mark 9:24. |
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