November 8: FAITH WITH INTEREST
Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that He is real and that He rewards those who truly want to find Him. Hebrews 11:6 (ICB)
Does God exist? His Word begins by teaching us that In the beginning, God created…(Genesis 1:1), the “I AM” who addressed Moses from the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). If He is not real, then nothing else could have come into existence (see John 1:3). We are given sufficient reasoning capability, if only we will use it, to admit that He is the only self-existent One. The issue of survival is a non-issue with Him, for He is in need of nothing. Yes, He is real! And it is our survival that means a great deal to Him! But why?
The core aspect of His nature is love (1 John 4:8). The Greek language, which is more exacting than English, has four different words for love, three of which are based upon human feelings. But there is another word for love that points only to its purest meaning of total selflessness, regardless of feelings. This kind of love has a continuous outward flow for the benefit of others. The Greek word for this love is “agape.”
By contrast, this world, according to the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), produces a continuous outward flow of things for our mental and physical consumption that are counterfeits of the good things intended for us by our Creator. These counterfeits are intended by the evil one to feed our selfishness and ultimately bring about our destruction. Forms of ruinous entertainment, food, and drink are disguised as beneficial, even “healthy.” Or, at the very least, “harmless.” And how does the ruin come? Insidiously. It seeps in gradually and subtly, almost undetectably. Almost. But our God stands ready and willing to augment the good sense that He gave us with needed discernment, by which the devil is busted!
In truly seeking the Lord in order to please Him (by the way, He is not hiding) the poor sinner gains a lasting, growing faith. Believing that He is real and sincerely seeking Him will have rewards, both short- and long-term. You will find that the struggles of life in this fallen world begin to be offset by a growing knowledge of Him. An increasing awareness of His continual actions on your behalf and mine bring contagious joy, knowing that His actions spring from the purest love—agape! Only that kind of love has the power to transform our wayward hearts from selfish to selfless. Stick with the process and follow His gentle leading.
Make no mistake; you have a spiritual enemy who works to cause the downfall of your faith. Are you “on to” the wiles of the devil? Is he busted in your life? Keep learning and growing in the knowledge of God. Trust and obey! You can be confident that your faith will become an instrument in the loving hand of God for the benefit of others—all in the perfect economy of God’s love.
Then, behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” Matthew 9:2