Now Faith
Faith progresses in steps. One step of faith accepts that God exists. Another step accepts that God loves His creation and that He actively works to its benefit. Still another step of faith accepts the sacrifice of Jesus as his own, exercising saving faith and confessing Jesus as his Lord. This faith includes confidence that one day he will experience an eternity in a heavenly kingdom. All of this is good and necessary, and every person has an opportunity to take these steps. However, a study of the New Testament on the subject of faith will inevitably lead one to this conclusion: Jesus calls us all to a higher level of faith than this, one that does not believe in only intangible and future benefits. The Lord was and is all about our getting practical with our faith and thereby putting the power of God in the here and now.
The Bible tells how Jesus often “marveled” at the unbelief of His very own disciples. It wasn’t that they didn’t believe in God’s providence, or that they didn’t believe that Jesus could do amazing things. They at least had that level of faith. The unbelief Jesus highlighted was the kind that couldn’t believe that God would do anything about what they cared about right then: the need, the sickness, the demon, the storm.
Can you blame them? These disciples, all of them Jews and thus heirs of the covenant God made with Abraham had been disappointed many times by the troubles of life. They all grew up hearing stories of the miracle working power of God for people like Moses and Elijah, but none of them had ever seen such things themselves. After all the sin that Israel had committed over the centuries, many wondered if God had just completely rejected His people. Roman occupation made their powerless experience all the more bitter. Even worse, false “messiahs” had appeared in recent years making bold promises that never actually accomplished anything lasting.
The people were ready for the real Messiah to show them what God looks like, and what He feels about their “now” problems. Jesus not only demonstrated this Himself, but He also taught us to deal with those problems. It’s not with an easy, little-faith phrase like, “Let’s pray that someday we’ll understand God’s will!” No, it is with a “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” [now] and a “Peace! Be still!” [now] and a “Lazarus, come forth!” [now] and “[demon] Come out of her!” [now] The Bible says that we are now the body of Christ… right now, and that there is tremendous power available to us. We need to be doing at least as much work as He did.
Our initiative and action matter. We can talk all day about how good God is, and how He wants to fix our problems, but until we act on what we believe, those words remain just words. We can actually deceive ourselves into thinking we are fine with only a knowledge of God’s goodness and ability, when God calls us to get moving and actually effect His will. Let’s get out there and make good things happen in Jesus’ Name! This is how the world will see that our powerful God is alive and well and cares about saving them in the here and now.
(Acts 3:6-10, Mark 4:37-39, John 11:38-44, Acts 16:18, Matthew 7:24-27, James 1:22-25, Ephesians 1:15-19, John 14:12-14, Matthew 5:13-16, 1 Corinthians 12:27, 2 Chronicles 16:9)