Faith

Faith has many facets: it believes the unbelievable, sees the invisible and does the impossible. By trusting in faith we bring the living God into the circumstances of life—and that changes everything! Why is that? Because faith helps us to see matters in the right perspective.

Faith is the great principle of divine life in us—from beginning to end. After having believed in the Son of God we were justified by faith. Now we live by faith, stand by faith and walk by faith. Faith gains us access to heaven and lets us enjoy now some of “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor. 2:9).

Where do we find this faith in the Bible? For instance, in Hebrews 11. There we find an entire list of heroes of faith who in one way or another have trusted God and honoured Him in faith. But as the author puts these tremendous examples before us, he makes a remarkable statement just a few verses earlier: “The just shall live by faith” (Heb. 10:38, NKJV). So, God first puts the principle for Christian life before us—live by faith—and then, by using examples, shows us that characterises this faith and how it’s manifested in practice.

Although faith has many facets, it’s always directed at a Person: Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Paul wrote to the Galatians: “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). The apostle lived a living faith, day by day, hour by hour. He had his eye of faith directed at the Son of God, who was everything for him. That’s why living by faith also means to make Jesus Christ the centre and goal of our daily live.

God wants us to go through our daily lives in living fellowship with our Lord, continuously aware of the fact that we are dependent upon Him. As David aptly said: “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him” (Ps. 62:5). That’s the language of faith, which is focused on God and counts on Him in everything.

Soon the time will come when we don’t need faith any more. Why not? Because Jesus Christ will come to take us to be with Himself in heaven. Then we’ll move from faith to sight (see 2 Cor. 5:7)—and we’ll finally see Him as He is. Wonderful hope! Until then we should trust Him and rely on His promises: “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith” (Heb. 10:37-38).

Take some time and ask yourself the following questions: Is my life really characterised by a living faith? When I think back on yesterday: Have I lived in conscious fellowship with God and really counted with Him?

J.P.S.