And Jesus, the heart of the Christian faith is the wildest, most radical guy you'd ever come across.
- Bear Grylls
Scripture notes, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Substance and evidence imply tangibility. A quantum Christian truth, given elsewhere Jesus explains, “People can’t observe the coming of God’s kingdom. They can’t say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ You see, the kingdom of God is within you.”
The good news is, the entire Bible and in particular the New Testament exemplifies the nature of the kind of faith God requires. Living vs. dead. Genuine vs. presumptive. Miraculous vs. mundane. All that's left is for us to find, experience and share it!
Faith wears many hats. Faith means different things to different people and at times plays different roles in each of our lives.
Faith can be allusive, seeming defying description. Faith represents both an event and a process, a state as well as stages of development. The new convert becomes a believer by reason of faith, yet even the tiniest grain of faith holds the power to move mountains! Belief is truly an enigma, being the both the beginning and ending of our "most holy faith."
Having risen from the dead, Jesus told his disciples they were blessed to believe after seeing and handling Him for themselves. He continued by saying "even more blessed are those who believe without seeing." On the other hand the Bible's Faith Hall of Fame declares that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Yet as noted, Christ also describes faith as tangible by it's results in promising, "...assuredly I say to you if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."
While faith's various functions may differ they arise from belief. Belief itself has many layers and stages of development. Another key scripture from the Hall of Fame of Faith is central to the understanding of seeking God, highlighting the important role belief plays in the process:
- "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." Hebrews 11:6
Having at least some degree of initial faith is the first step in seeking God. Throughout all the subsequent stages our faith will be called upon and tested, hopefully causing growth and maturity.
Sadly a vast number of believers are content to stop here, thereby ending their seeking God at its beginning. Such fall far short of Jesus' teaching on Salvation and His apostle's teachings on Living Faith and have likely never read the Apostle Peter's warning to those who would neglect what he calls necessary additions to faith. Hundreds of millions of Christians give little more than lip service or a nominal effort in seeking God. The believe by attending church they are "continuing in the faith." Unfortunately, while many continue on this way for decades and so rather than having twenty years of Christian experience they have one year's experience twenty times.
What greater motivations could we have "with Heaven to gain and Hell to loose?" Giving the pursuit of God anything short of our best not can not only stunt our spiritual development, but that of those around us and as Christ points out on many occasions, can prove to be spiritually deadly.
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