Faith is also finding that we could never be or have or do with Christ Jesus:
"That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
"For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring." (Acts 17: 27-28)
Our "Seeking" the Lord is in fact a matter of our realizing that we cannot, never have, lived without Him, and that we need only receive by faith that He is in us through the gracious work of His Son at the Cross, and let Him abide in us. This is why Jesus could say even to the wicked, self-righteous Pharisees:
"The Kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21)
So, we are not saved by our "doing" so to speak, but by our "believing", in that we come to God with our inexpressible, infinite sin debt (cf Matthew 18), to receive his saving grace, which we acknowledge by faith as having received.
Therefore, by abiding (literally, "remaining") in Jesus Christ, He is able yo bear much fruit. Without Him, we can do nothing, not one thing, not even believe! (cf John 15:5)
So, we can boldly say that not only does God believe in us, believing that we can do all things (Philippians 4:13), but He literally believes in -- within! -- us, for by His faith, through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, we come to faith and walk in obedience.
No comments:
Post a Comment