2 Corinthians 5:7
“We live by believing, not by seeing” NLT
In college, my wife and I had a religion professor named
Alan Smith. He taught us a lot about
Christian Education (that is his area) but to be honest, I don’t recall most of
it. But one thing I do remember from Dr.
Smith is a word he gave me. I’m quite
sure he was quoting someone else, but the word he gave me was “faithing.” He said that faith in the dictionary is a
noun, but that is wrong. You can only
“possess” faith to the extent that you are using or exercising it. This builds on what James was teaching, us
yesterday about faith and action. Faith
is a verb. We cannot “have” faith
passively. We can only have it as we are “faithing,” that is, putting it in
action.
If follows than that if Faith is a verb, it is something we
must choose to do. And Paul in the verse
above, reminds us that this choice is a countercultural and even nonsensical
one sometimes. There will be times when
“the facts” of a situation would tell you to not live by faithing. You been praying for someone and they’re
still struggling. You are trying to
learn something new and it is so frustrating you are tempted to quit. To take a very personal example for me, you
lost a LOT of weight only to gain it all back.
A passive faith says, “Prayers aren’t working. This is
pointless.” An active faith says in
spite of what it can “see,” “I will continue praying for my friend because I
know that my praying is doing something that I cannot see right now.”
A passive faith says, “I can’t learn this new thing.” An
active faith says, “Even my failure to learn to this point is teaching me
something I didn’t know before, so I will keep practicing until I can see what
it is.”
A passive faith says, “I might as well just give up on being
at a healthy weight.” (I confess that I have that very thought all the time) An
active faith says, “I have learned more every time I have lost and regained
weight. I will keep working at being at a healthy weight knowing that I will
continue to learn and become heathier in the process”
We live by faithing, not by seeing.
Prayer: God, I believe. Help me in my unbelief. (Mark 9:25)
Help me live by faithing today and every day. Amen
Prayer Focus: Pray
for something that you, right now, think
is impossible.
Song: Matthew West
(Dream Again)
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