In today’s edition of “Monday Minutes,” I am sharing a recent article by Elder Michael Ivey on the subject of “faith.” Faith has been much on my mind lately, as I struggle through the storms of life. The more we understand about faith, the better we will be able to face the troubles of this sin cursed world!
May the Lord bless you is my prayer!
Elder Chris McCool, Pastor
Honesty of Faith
by Michael Ivey
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Hebrews 11:1-3
These verses supply believers with a definition of faith, how it works and what it can accomplish. In all these the moral honesty of faith, as substantive expression and thereby evidence of the existence of things which by natural means cannot be discerned, supplies believers with conviction to believe accounts of past events and fulfilled prophecies, and also to believe as yet unfulfilled prophecy contained in God’s inspired word. In this way faith openly supplies an honest means for believers to confidently accept as true God’s explanations concerning events we did not or else have not yet experienced first hand. It is open and honest in that faith freely acknowledges it provides conviction concerning the truthfulness of these explanations and promises which believers cannot by other means prove to be true. It also gives believers conviction that a sense of noble purpose and a morally good quality of life are among the blessings faithful believers experience.
Faith is the substantive expression of Christ in us by which believers confidently and joyfully anticipate His second coming; when, by the resurrection of our bodies we will be conformed to his glorious image. This is the awaited inheritance that will be fully received by all those for whom Christ died when He comes again. Faith is one aspect of the earnest of our inheritance. It is the fruit of the Spirit; which in fact and effect we received when we were born again by the Spirit of God.
Faith works by allowing believers to engage in thoughts and reach conclusions which serve as evidence of unseen things. By confidence in God and thereby taking Him at his word, faith affirms as being true what scripture asserts: that material reality is a product of God’s spiritual reality. Which is to say, all the things which may be seen, all things material, had their origins in things which our natural senses cannot discern. Thus, faith allows believers to accept as presupposition that an unseen eternal spiritual reality exists from which the temporal material reality which we presently experience proceeded: “so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”
The moral disposition of faith is inferred from its effect: “For by it the elders obtained a good report.” Thus, faith is more than believing with conviction. It is more than joyful anticipation of Jesus’ return. Living faith(fully) is taking God at his word and behaving accordingly. It is acting honestly and lovingly. Which is to say, faith is living in accord with the implications of God’s love for us which Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary and the promise of His return conveys. Therefore, believers’ actions in love for God and others are faithful and thereby morally good expressions of their trust in God and of their joy in happy anticipation of Jesus’ second and final coming.