Are You Living By Faith?
Paul writes in the beginning of Romans, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
When I read that last part I am forced to ask myself two questions. First, do I consider myself righteous? Second, am I living by faith?
To the first question my initial thought is to say yes, I am a righteous person. I go to church, I read my Bible(maybe not as much as I should), the people around me know I’m a Christian. I try to avoid sin as much as I can. I pray and do my best to honor God.
But now, when I ask myself the second question, my whole response to the first is now not so clear. Am I living by faith? In a lot of ways I’d say yes but I know that there are definitely some areas off y life where I struggle to live by faith. Now according to Paul, “The righteous shall live by faith.” So, if I’m not doing the second then I’m not doing the first either.
Some years ago, the Lord wrecked my life with this very question. I was happily trucking along in my job. I was making money and able to take care of the things in my life that needed taking care of. I was able to buy the things I needed and in many cases most of the things I wanted. What I came to realize though is that I wasn’t happy where I was in my life. I was comfortable. My job was actually making me miserable. I had gotten to the point where I dreaded going to work most days but the money, which really wasn’t all that much, gave me the ability to control my circumstances.
Then God drew closer to him. I had reached my “pit of misery” and when I looked around the only thing I saw was God with his arms open saying, “Come to me”. It was literally the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my life but I decided to finally give up control of my financial situation and step into the unknown. I honestly didn’t know if God would be there to catch me but I knew he said he would. So I jumped.
The truth is that I gave up a lot that day. The temptations are still there. The uncertainty at times is still there. But God has been there. He has not failed me or forsaken me and I continually pray for the strength and patience to live by faith.
So, do you consider yourself righteous? Are you living by faith? The question you have to ask yourself is, “What in my life am I unwilling give up control and hand over to God?” God’s plan for our lives is much better than our own. Where are you comfortable? If you are comfortable you have no need for God in your life. He doesn’t want comfort. He wants faith.
Bryan Nicholson
Media and Marketing Lead
