It is easy to
claim something as your own, lip service happens all the time but how often is
something claimed that shouldn’t be. I can say that a particular motor vehicle
is mine but unless I have the paperwork to prove it, I would not legally be
able to sell that car.
The Bible is
full of statements that came from the mouth of our glorious Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ and the more I examine them the deeper I am taken concerning the
profound simplicity in which He arrived at his conclusions. He was rather
ingenious in a simple kind of way. He never muddied words in his explanations,
but arrived at his point accurately and precisely. And when we are true to the
text it is hard to find wiggle room on what has been penned.
Jesus was seen
walking on water, leaving the discipline in a quandary and full of fear
believing him to be a ghost; The Lord Comforts their hearts reassuring them
that it was him walking towards them on water. Amazingly no scientific
explanation was give on how he achieved this miraculous deed. Peter cries out
like so many of us have done in the past, “command me to come to you on the
water.” Look at the Lords reply, “come”. Peter was eager to go and so he did and when he
saw the wind he began to doubt and immediately started sinking which
instinctively caused him to cry out, “Lord, save me.” And Jesus immediately
reached out his hand and took hold of him. What amazes me is what came
next; "O you of little faith, why did you
doubt?" – Faith demands our ability to trust
God at His word regardless of any scientific proof required by our natural
brains to reconcile how something actually works. I do not believe that God
expects us to walk blindly as we are called to walk by faith. He calls us to
put us trust in Him. This is known in scriptures as “faith towards God”. It is
the Word of God that we are called to follow and in so doing we need to believe
what is written even if we can’t get our heads around certain truths. Peter saw
the Lord Jesus walking on water believing that if Jesus commanded it he could
do the same, until his carnality caught up with him, his brain needed and
explanation. Faith does not! The cares of this life is what often chokes the
once so called believer to reverting back to a nominal lifestyle where sight is
dominate.
As Christian maturing in Christ we need to arrive
at a place of total dependency upon our God and often it is in spite of our
circumstances which exposes the core of our belief. We all want to receive
accolades, it is nice to be noticed and we learn the feeling of this from an
early age, report cards, and colours for sporting achievements and so on. Faith
has proof attached to it and it speaks loudest when the chips are down and
God’s people are not moved. As an outsider who reasons with their natural abilities
they see failure, but God sees something far greater, those who have learnt to
walk by faith, trusting Him in spite of their circumstances. A man is jobless
and he holds onto to Gods Word, the Lord Jesus Christ and without any criminal
activity and against all odds he doesn’t starve to death. God looks out for his
own, praise his name!
Here is his point of view explained in a portion of
the faith chapter of the Bible. The world sees something totally different and
they see these individuals as a bunch of failures who achieved very little in
this life, but those looked upon in that way were in fact focused on eternity,
which is a concept foreign to the natural mind; “Others suffered mocking and
flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in
two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and
goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated-- of
whom the world was not worthy--wandering about in deserts and
mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” (Hebrews 11:36-38)
“You will know
a tree by its fruit” is an obvious deduction or at least it should be, certain
trees produce differing fruits. Who goes to an orange farm to get apples? That
would be absurd, even a three year old understands this. Why then do people
flock to those who claim Christianity and yet it is obvious that those in
charge know nothing about sound doctrine? The simple truth taught throughout
the Bible is shelved and their focus shifts to a twisted manipulated slant on
faith attached to a prosperity message. Or the idea of fame is jumped at whilst
everyone has a word for someone else, when the ones prophesying have in fact
been deceived into believing that they are God’s chosen for the hour, when in
fact all they seek is personal accolades. And then there are the less obvious
traits that we see closer to home, nuances that tell a different story to what
is being claimed and yet the Lord Jesus announced simply, “you will know a tree by
its fruit”. It not about
what we achieve here on earth but how we are willing to lay down the comforts
of this life as we learn to walk by faith, loving our brothers as ourselves.
Christianity is all about trusting God at His Word, which will come at a cost,
it must if it is to be tried and tested and we are to come out on the other
side refine and worthy to fly the flag of faith with the stamp of God’s
approval endorsing it.
God singled out
Moses and this is what it cost him; “By
faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated
with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He
considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt,
for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of
the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith
he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the
firstborn might not touch them. By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on
dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were
drowned.” (Hebrews 11:24-28)
We cannot claim to be people of faith if our lives
depict a totally different story. God help us all to walk by faith and to put
to death the voices in our heads that leads us down the road of carnality which
is another road altogether. The correct road that will harvest the right fruit
is the road named "faith towards God".
Signing off
Tyrone
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