Justified By Faith…

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Thayer’s Biblical of Biblical Definitions defines Faith as; 1. conviction of the truth of anything… generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervor born of faith and joined with it…

Yes, faith, man’s faith, next to God’s character, is the most spoken of topic of the Bible but that does not mean that it is ONLY a characteristic of “those” religious freaks.

Everyone has “faith” in someone or something. Everyone builds their life on a collection of beliefs and principles which they have processed through their minds and taken to their heart as the foundation upon which all else is rested on. Though some may deny they have FAITH because they think it is strictly a religious term, nonetheless they put their faith in “EVERYTHING BUT GOD”.

Faith is one of the actions of being human. It is the result of thinking, and choosing, and putting into place those things that would cause us to move and act in a certain way.

Faith is the consequence of being made in the image of God… the fruit which comes from FREE WILL – the freedom of choice, the freedom from being totally driven by instinct alone. We choose whom or what we will serve and then put our faith to the task of serving our master(s) well.

I’ll admit, some people are driven by what seems to be uncontrollable and thereby hard to imagine as a choice, however, short of a physical/metaphysical reason, no one can truthfully claim to have NO CHOICE in life, it’s environment, or our response to it.

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:22-23) 

We KNOW suffering, and though we cannot control and/or escape what the environment throws at us, we ALL react and respond in some way.

Our reaction, and our response to that reaction, is the catalyst that  DEMANDS we choose “our conviction of TRUTH”. If we refuse to choose (and this too is a choice), we will be tossed to and fro with all kinds of possibilities. We will not be able to sustain OUR world because we have not chosen OUR truth.

But faith isn’t just believing something… faith is believing with a conviction so settled it is WORTHY to build our “house” upon it. Even those who refuse to choose their “truth”, are putting their faith, their conviction in their belief that there are MANY ways to build (and as soon as I discover THE ONE, I plan to build the biggest and best kingdom of all).

My point is… everyone has FAITH! And.. to everyone their faith makes sense! Until… it no longer works!

As long as our belief supports our conviction of the truth we use as the foundation to build upon, we have no need to change our belief  or conviction. What is the support that upholds our faith? I believe it is our sense of happiness, our sense of security, our sense of “all is right with our world”… one could even call it RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Thayer’s Definition: Righteousness… 1. In a broad sense: state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God – a. the doctrine concerning the way which man may attain a state approved of God b. integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking feeling, and acting 2. in a narrower sense: justice or the virtue which gives each his due

State of him/or her who is as he/she ought to be… Justice, or the virtue which gives each his due… the state of (happy, healthy, wise) and the justice – the “what you give is what you get” so to speak.

Back to being made in the image of God… there is a choice – there are results to every choice – but there is also a STANDARD that determines (judges) the rightness of our choice. Just as EVERYONE chooses the object of their faith, so EVERYONE judges the outcome putting that faith into action. I believe the OBJECT we view through our faith becomes the STANDARD by which we judge.

God CHOOSE to “Let us make man in our own image”… the RESULT of which was mankind – creatures above all other creatures. God’s STANDARD was Himself – PERFECT (righteous) in every way.

And it was PARADISE – results without flaw – NO SUFFERING!

This, paradise, was God’s Will for such a beloved creature. He walked with His beloved in the perfect garden He provided. He talked with His beloved and trained His beloved in the ways of being the ruler over creation. He was willing to give His beloved the authority and responsibility of sustaining all He had made. And He gave this beloved creature, his very own partner so that he might have a physical completion to the love and desire to be loved, God placed in his heart. God gave!

So, where does this idea come from that “if God” was real, or loving, or perfect, “He would’ve, could’ve, should’ve” come from? For most of us it comes from a SELECTIVE MEMORY. We selectively remember WHO done/did the deed that CHANGED creation and DEMANDED a judgement and brought RESULTS groaning and suffering to all of creation.

Well, you might ask, WHY didn’t God fix what mankind screwed up? A “good” parent wouldn’t want a child to suffer…???…right???

Not unless the child suffering is the ONLY WAY to save their life!

Sin, apart from simply eating a forbidden fruit, is really about taking our freedom of choice, and using it to choose anything less than The Author and Perfecter of our faith, The Alpha and Omega of all things. The God who Is, and Was, and Is to come!

Isaiah 26:9 At night my soul longs for You, indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 

Choosing our own desires (lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh & pride of life – Genesis 3) to be the standard upon which we would build our kingdom, demanded, quite frankly, not just punishment but DEATH – wages of sin is death (Roman 6:23). If we were to remain in perfection – Paradise, it would demand our death. If we were allowed to live, perfection would be gone – sin/evil would rule and there was a great possibility we would find the source/the gate to eternity. And then there would be NO HOPE!

And this my friends, might just be the reason God does not take away all of our suffering. Not only does FREE WILL demand a choice freely made, love demands the opportunity to desire to choose it freely… without bribery/threat. When things are going swimmingly, we don’t NEED to assess our choices and we woulds each for a way to make this life forever. It is for our safety and security that we have all every opportunity to change our wicked ways. Suffering, i.e. trials do provide us time to assess our life and the choices we must make.

But God so loved His beloved… Yes, He sent us out of Paradise and put up a barrier to eternity until the price (wages) of sin could be paid, until every one of His beloved would seek Him, and He and we could be (because the universal price of death was paid) brought together in intimacy and fellowship again… this time FOR ETERNITY! Not just Paradise but HEAVEN – God’s Kingdom!

By Faith!!!

Romans 10:9-11 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes , resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For Scriptures says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

More than just a I believe… I BELIEVE with the conviction that I WILL build my life – all that I am and all that I have and all that I do on this assurance of things hoped for!

I KNOW that my conviction of things not seen will be PROVEN (justified) to be the ETERNAL RIGHTNESS.

Justified by FAITH… Are you ready to put your money where your mouth is? Are you ready to put your “conviction of belief” on the table and make the ALL IN  bet for your eternity?

Isaiah 29:13 Then the Lord said, “ this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote

Is your foundation stable? Does it hold your life securely and prove itself to be the right way? Do you take FULL OWNERSHIP of the belief you hold and therefore full ownership of the results of that choice? Are you SURE that the faith you hold, whether it be in yourself, or in other man-made and controlled vehicles of living (science, religion, government), will take you to the place you want to spend your eternity in?

There is a way to be sure! So sure you can bet your ETERNAL LIFE on it! For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Jeremiah 29:13-14 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 

Justified by faith… I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible