A Question of Faith

This morning, these two expressions from God’s Book blessed me so much that I’m sharing them to see what will happen.

First, a verse that has guided my focus for the past 24 years, refreshed my soul once again:

         

19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. (John 5)

As we consider what Jesus did in his ministry, we must interpret every single act of ministry as the Son of God doing “only what he SEES the Father doing.”

One clue of how Jesus knew he was seeing what his Father was doing is identified in Jesus’ encounter with a paralyzed man and his friends:

2 And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus SAW their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” (Matthew 9)

What did Jesus see? He “saw their faith”. The salvation Jesus brought is a salvation that is “by grace… through faith” (Ephesians 2:8-9). When Jesus saw faith in someone’s heart (and eyes), he knew his Father was graciously working.

Now, we know that, “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17), so, we know that the place to look for faith in each other’s lives is wherever we are in God’s word, hearing the words of Christ.

With that in mind, I encourage those of you who love the Lord Jesus Christ and eagerly await his appearing to answer this question. I present it in a positive and negative form. Pick the one that matches your time in God’s word today. Feel free to answer in a response to this post, or think of someone in your church fellowship you could share this with and see what God is doing in each of you for the building up of your mutual faith.

Question in the positive: What were you reading in God’s word today that stirred your heart to faith in whatever the words of Christ were speaking to you?

Question in the negative: What were you reading in God’s word today that convicted you that Jesus was saying, “O you of little faith”, in relation to whatever the words of Christ were speaking to you?

Whichever question best applies, it should make clear to us how God is working. It is now our place to, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13).

© 2016 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)