Читать книгу Kingdom Perspective: Odds and Ends - Kenneth B. Alexander Alexander - Страница 8

Our faith in the Lord seems to have need of reassurance from time to time. God will speak something to us and we believe it at the time but when that circumstances or conditions arise we often react with unbelief. Then we must go back to the Lord, or to our brother, to be reassured again in our faith. This process may repeat itself a multitude of times and we still walk away without the abiding faith that God really wants.

Reassure means variously to: “assure anew or reassure, to relieve of anxieties, to restore to confidence or to encourage”. Synonyms may include “encourage, guarantee, convince, bolster, comfort, console or inspire” (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, 11th Ed.). Reassurance implies that we are seeking something we have lost and we have to be reminded again of its existence.

Abiding faith is: “enduring, abiding; pertaining to, continuing to exist and so remain in a (sure) state”. It can also mean a resumption of a prior state. (Swanson, James: Dictionary of Biblical Languages : Aramaic (Old Testament). In Greek the word is μένω (menō): “to stay, remain, abide; to wait for, remain in a place or state, and expect something in future; continue to exist, remain in existence; keep on, continue in an activity or state, as an aspect of continuing action or permanence of position” (Swanson, James: Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Greek (New Testament) With Semantic Domains).

Why is there such a wavering in our faith that we have to be reminded of God’s word over and over again? Jesus was not unconvinced of His Father’s love for Him. Jesus didn’t waver in faith. His heart was fixed on the Father. He was, however, aware of the instability and unbelief of man who wavered at every turn of the wind.

He commanded: “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet you’re heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But [continually] seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:25-34).

The Lord is not suggesting that we have faith and not worry about the material things of this life; He is COMMANDING IT! God wants our time to be His and not moved by trivial, worldly and temporal distractions. He said we could gain the whole world and forfeit our soul by amassing possessions and forgetting to have faith in God. He wants us to be perfect like the heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).

Yes our faith seems to be constantly challenged. Perhaps challenged isn’t the right word. God is constantly expanding our faith. “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance [steadfastness]. And let endurance [steadfastness] have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, [mature] lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).

Steadfastness means: “consistent, immoveable, constant, firm, persevering, sure, true, unflinching, stable, unfaltering and never failing,” to name a few (Merriam-Webster’s Thesaurus) We need to be mature as Paul described: “…until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;” (Ephesians 4:13-14).

Jesus Himself said: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock [a solid steadfast foundation] “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall” (Matthew 7:24-27).

Why do we continually have to be reassured by God or others to have faith? Why is it that God can speak a Word to our hearts and we can go away with unbelief as to whether that Word is really true? God wants us to believe steadfastly so when rains or storms arise we don’t run and hide like children but we stand mature in His faith.

Paul said: “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4). And in the same Book: “He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister” (Colossians 1:22-23).

We always seem to want to move off what we have heard. In Paul’s day he battled ministers who would come into the church (or in our case into our thoughts) with various religious doctrines contrary to the true gospel. Many presented religious rituals such as circumcision, diets etc. which, they said, had to be performed if you were to be made perfect. Paul said: “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (Which all refer to things destined to perish with use?)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence” (Colossians 2:20-23). `

Paul is forced here to reassure the Colossians of their freedom in Christ; free from legalism and rituals. Entry to His Kingdom is by faith, not by works so that man could boast and say “I did it”. Christ has already done it for you yet many believers still think they have to do works to earn salvation. If you are in His rest (Hebrews 4:1-16) then you need to no other works in order to gain favor with God.

Christ’s is a spiritual kingdom. It is not of this earth. : “Jesus answered [to Pilate], “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm” (John 18:36).

Do we need our faith reassured? Christ called the disciples “oh ye of little faith”. Christ has commanded no boundaries on our faith. The disciples asked Christ why they couldn’t cast out a demon from a man. Jesus responded: “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you” (Matthew 17:20). We can have unlimited faith even if it seems to be a small amount in our estimation.

The point of this article is that we carry this unbelief with us, in our lives. This is a hindrance to our walks with God. Unbelief in Christ is the most deadly of sins. When we say unbelief we are not speaking of not believing that we are saved and are going to heaven. The faith we are speaking about is the active miracle faith that can only come from God. Paul was absolutely convinced of the validity of his faith. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). Likewise we do not need to have our faith constantly reassured. We are convinced of our faith which leaves no room for unbelief.