THE ABILITY TO PLEASE GOD

Thursday 10 October

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6 (KJV)

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (KJV)

When we hear people using phrases like ‘You’ve just gotta have faith’ or ‘you’ve gotta keep the faith’ or ‘I need more faith’ it shows how much confusion surrounds this entire subject. There are 2 main reasons for this. Firstly, those who are not in Christ don’t have faith and secondly, Christians who have faith don’t understand it. Let’s address the last reason as it will help answer the first.

Many Christians take their reference point or subject material for faith from the gospels i.e Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This presents its own challenges as there can be a clash of ideas between old and new testaments. It’s important we recognise that virtually all of the gospels are under the law in the Old Testament. Just because they are in the New Testament section of your Bible doesn’t make them to be so.

Think it about. Jesus taught in parables, to the old creation before Christ. The Apostles taught the revelation of the scriptures to the new creation in Christ. We need to take this into consideration when we approach faith for the believer. In the gospels Jesus talks about little faith, strong faith, great faith and no faith. If you carry this into your new creation life, you will have the wrong view of faith.

In the epistles it talks about the faith you have been given as a spirit, a measure and most importantly, His faith. Faith is even shown as knowledge. This is a far cry from what most people have been taught. ‘The faith of the Son of God’ should tell you beyond any shadow of doubt whose faith you are operating in now since your salvation. We have the ‘same spirit of faith’ and have been given ‘the measure of faith’. That faith came by hearing the message of Christ.

So what about those who are not believers in Christ? The world’s version of faith is actually hope and not faith. Some call it natural faith as opposed to the God kind of faith but this is not the best definition. Truthfully, no one outside of Christ has faith they only have an uncertain hope. Most people are just wishing things go well without expecting them to because they don’t have eternal assurance.

True hope that is also found in salvation means to have an expectation of good.

The Old Testament saints had this kind of hope. The substance of the things that they hoped for was a futuristic Messiah. They didn’t have His faith like we do in the New Testament but the good news is, God has given everyone the ability to please him.

Romans 12:3 says ‘For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to EVERY MAN the measure of faith.’

Did you see that? In other words God has allotted a measure of faith to every person that He died for. Everyone in the world. It is activated when you receive salvation in Christ. If you are not a believer, God has made a way for you to accept Jesus and live a life that pleases Him. If you are in Christ, you need to utilise the measure of faith you have already been given to please Him.

This shows the grace of God for all of us!

APPLICATION

Concentrate your study of faith in the New Testament epistles and not the Old Testament gospels, to comprehend the spirit and measure of His faith that is in the believer.