Faith plays a huge role in the Bible.
Biblically, there are consequences when someone doesn’t have faith. For example, Zechariah (Luke 1) questioned Gabriel the angel when he told the man he would have a child at an old age. Zechariah said, “How can I be sure this will happen?” and Gabriel replied, “Since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born.” This child, by the way, grew up to be John the Baptist, the man who turned many of the Israelites back to their God.
Likewise, there is great reward for having faith. Moses was reluctant to lead the people out of Israel. The Bible records in Exodus that Moses protested over and over when God comes to him in the form of a burning bush to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. In Exodus 4:13, Moses says, “Lord, please! Send someone else.”
Despite the reluctance, in faith, Moses leads the people out of Egypt. “By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible,” Hebrews 11:27. Can you imagine the outcome if Moses had refused?
We are to have faith in God beyond all understanding. We shouldn’t pause and ‘think logically’. God doesn’t move based on human logic—and praise Him that he doesn’t. We shouldn’t question God’s intentions. We know the intentions are to further his kingdom, and that should be enough for us.
Earlier this week I was thinking about people who don’t know Christ. And I was convicted. Do I really believe God can save anyone? I think of those that I know that seem so lost, and inwardly my sinful heart thinks, “they will never be saved.”
But friends that is exactly what the enemy wants.
This stems from faith that is built on shaky ground. By saying, “they will never be saved,” I’m really saying, “I don’t believe God can do it.” Instead of acting, I sit by and watch them fall deeper into sin because subconsciously I don’t believe God has the authority and power to change them.
And how wrong that is. It’s as if I’m relying on my own power to save someone. And without God, I am powerless. I can do nothing for Him apart from Him. Mark 11: 22-24 says,
“And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
We have so much power if we have faith in the Lord. Any soul can be saved through God. The murderer, the adulter, the common sinner can be saved through Jesus’s work on the cross.
And then the thought occurred to me, how much of my faith is based on others faith? Meaning: if no one left in this country believed—if everyone decided to abandon their faith and I was the last to believe in the Lord, would I still?
Of course, you would want to answer a resounding yes. But imagine if you were really in that situation. Is your faith built on the cornerstone that would allow you to keep the faith when everyone else has abandoned it? When there is no one in your corner except Christ himself?
Who does your faith stem from: others, yourself, or Christ?
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