Faith and Responsibility

Faith

•“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.” –Colossians 3:23-24

•“For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.”

    -II Corinthians 10:18

Name of God

•Author and Perfector of Our Faith:

–“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” –Hebrews 12:2

            It seems that everything in the Christian life is something God does.  We could not do it on our own, so God came and did it.  He gives us one responsibility though.  We are not saved by works lest any man should boast.  We are saved by grace, but how? Through faith.

            Faith involves trusting God, more than simply believing.  It is like taking a car to the mechanic.  The mechanic does all the work on the car.  The mechanic is the one with all the knowledge, all the tools, all the experience, and all the ability, however, there is still a responsibility on the part of the person bringing it in, and that is to trust the mechanic with the car.  The customer actually has to turn the car over to the mechanic.  That is what faith is like.  Jesus does all the work, He’s the author and perfecter of this whole system of faith, but we have to actually turn our lives over to Him.  The problem is that we keep trying to take the car of our lives back to fix it ourselves.  When we finally realize that we are making a bigger mess of it than it was before, we say we are going to turn it back over to the Mechanic, so that He can fix it.  He begins working on it then we grab it back again and try it by ourselves again.  The question really comes down to whether we trust Him and have faith in Him or not.

            It is perceived to be very difficult sometimes to know what it means to trust God and have faith in Him, and knowing when to yield to Him.  In reality, it is very simple, and the concept ties into the last post.  We know that we need to walk in the spirit, and the way we do that is by yielding to Him every day by practicing the secret disciplines of prayer and Bible reading.  We show God we trust Him by doing the simple things that He says works.  Demonstrating real faith really is our responsibility and it is not that much to ask from the author and finisher of the whole system.