The Gift of Faith


 

But because of his great love of us God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions, – it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:5

It is part of my morning to time with God to write down ten blessings. It's a great way for me to start my day. On a good day when I wake up feeling just fine or better, it's an excellent reminder of why I have that contentment. On a bad day, when I feel challenged or ill, it's a way to switch my focus off of what isn't going well and onto the gifts I've been given.

This morning one of the things I wrote was, “the gift of faith.” Just seeing the words in print made me feel so, so blessed. Faith isn't something I set out to earn. It is a blessing. It is absolutely a gift.

I love to talk to people who are aware of that truth, the kind of people who recognize the truth of James 1:17, that every good and perfect gift comes from our Father in heaven. The look of joy in their eyes, the awe that comes from knowing that no matter how much we think we understand there is so much more than we know and best of all, the humility.

On the other hand, I am quite put off by people who claim a knowledge and love of God's grace but throw it out there as an achievement, as if their hard work and perseverance earned them a spot on God's team. Um, no.

Yesterday I was blessed to sit with a group of people who are not at all new to a life of faith but still have that childlike wonder that we are called to have. Listening to each one I wanted our somewhat limited time to never end. There is in that group, such a desire to share that faith, that wonder with other people.

That's another difference between people who recognize the truth that says our faith is a gift, they really want to share it. While the people who think it is something that they can earn want to keep it exclusive. It's not worth much if just anybody can have it, right? Wrong! Our faith is the most precious thing we will ever have, our relationship with Jesus, who was so gracious to come and die so that we could have faith, is a gift we need to share because in sharing it, it grows by leaps and bounds.

Faith is a gift, given by grace, which as I was taught years ago, could stand for, God's Riches At Christ's Expense. A free gift to us, bought at a price beyond our comprehension.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Applause, Applause and Protection

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, Hebrews 12:1 Reading some Scripture this morning I was reminded of a message that I watched from Louie Giglio. In it Louie described a child of God leaving her home for the day. He goes on about how the heavenly beings see it. With great excitement, he tells of the joy and applause going on in heaven as the woman gets in the elevator, gets to the parking lot and gets in her car. It’s hilarious and over the top, (remember I did say it was Louie Giglio!) but there’s a great lesson in it. My husband and I were watching a TV show about a fictional former president. At one point the poor man is just over the Secret Service detail. He’s tired of them following him around so he fires them. It takes less than five minutes for him to start to see all that they’ve been doing for...
Read more

My Father Saw That

She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me, “for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” Genesis 16:13 There’s a movie from several years ago that I absolutely love! It’s called “The American President.” The premise is that the president, who is a widower, has begun to date. He’s dating a lovely woman while running for reelection. His opponent is awful. He knows he doesn’t have much of a chance against the popular incumbent so he tries to make a mountain out of the molehill of the standing president’s romance. At one point there is a news clip that shows the woman in a protest during her college days. After the clip plays the opponent refers to the president’s lady friend as “the president’s whore.” She groans and says to the president “My father saw that!” She is devastated, not because what is being said is true but because her father, who she loves and respects, saw the clip and heard those words spoken about her. I thought of ...
Read more

Not Really god, where are you?

Then they called on the name of Baal from morning to noon.”Baal answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said, “Surely he is a god! Perhaps his is deep in thought, or busy or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 1 Kings 18:26b-27 Those who know me would be quick to tell you that I am a bit sarcastic. It’s a quality that I have passed on to my children and even some of my grandchildren. Some days I feel a little guilty. Is that really a quality that God wants to see in me? Certainly that cannot be my go to attitude but there are times that it comes in quite nicely. This morning, reading a totally unrelated verse, I was reminded of this account in the first book of Kings. (It begins at verse 16 and continues to the end of the chapter. I highly recommend reading it if you haven’t and it if you have reread it. It’s great!) In this p...
Read more