Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
What does it mean to believe in Jesus? Sometimes we spend a lifetime searching for an understanding. "Faith works by love" says Galatians 5:6, which must obviously mean the change of heart and life that is so essential for inheriting a place in God's eternal kingdom. The gospel is the power of God to salvation, but it's only through "faith" that it can "work" (Rom. 1:16). So, again, what is faith?
The helpless addict of whatever devilish slavery to sin is the "pit" into which we have fallen cries out to understand what it means to have "faith." Jesus tells the distraught father in Mark 9 that "all things are possible to the one who believes," that is, exercises faith (vs. 23), and the poor disheartened man cries out in his tears, "I believe; help my unbelief," or my failure to exercise or to have faith (vs. 24, and the Lord heard that prayer!).
Is faith the same as "trust"? Many so define it; but there are different words in the original Greek of the New Testament to define either faith or trust. They are not identical. "Trust" implies a self-centered concern, like you trust your bank or you trust the police; to "trust" or "believe" in Jesus in order to escape hell or to obtain the reward of "mansions in the sky" cannot be the meaning of "faith which works by love [agape]."
To understand what is "faith" we need therefore to explore the meaning of agape, otherwise we shall be imprisoned in the lukewarmness of the "church of Laodicea" (Rev. 3:14-17). That seventh church needs above all else to understand what is "the gold tried in the fire" that Jesus says we need above all else … which is "faith." But empty words don't help. Must we spend a lifetime without discovering soul-saving truth? We must not! We must not hear the Lord tell us at last, Sorry, "I never knew you" (Matt. 7:23).
In reading the treasures of Second Corinthians we come upon a guide: 9:15 says, "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!" That outburst of gratitude is revealing. Gratitude is not a prayer asking for something; gratitude is the response of the heart for having received something, or having learned something. The Greek word "unspeakable" includes the negative "a" followed by "expressible," a heart appreciation for something that is beyond suitable expression of understanding.
Agape is the love that drove the Son of God in His incarnation to "taste death for every man," to "taste" the accumulated crime, iniquity, sin, disgrace, depravity of "all men" when He was "made to be sin for us, who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21). It was painful.
The conclusion would be that faith is a heart appreciation of the love of a Savior who would and who did die your second death; who "poured out His soul unto death" (Isa. 53:12), who "emptied Himself" (Phil. 2:8). If that is the genuine thing, then it is understandable how "the agape of Christ constraineth us ... henceforth [not] to live unto ourselves but unto Him who died for [us]" (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). You still have your free will, but it's joyously captive in a sense more sublime than when you "fall in love" in our earthly sense. Now it's your eternal joy to be His slave, a constant, eternal willingness motivated by love.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 23, 2006.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.
What does it mean to believe in Jesus? Sometimes we spend a lifetime searching for an understanding. "Faith works by love" says Galatians 5:6, which must obviously mean the change of heart and life that is so essential for inheriting a place in God's eternal kingdom. The gospel is the power of God to salvation, but it's only through "faith" that it can "work" (Rom. 1:16). So, again, what is faith?
The helpless addict of whatever devilish slavery to sin is the "pit" into which we have fallen cries out to understand what it means to have "faith." Jesus tells the distraught father in Mark 9 that "all things are possible to the one who believes," that is, exercises faith (vs. 23), and the poor disheartened man cries out in his tears, "I believe; help my unbelief," or my failure to exercise or to have faith (vs. 24, and the Lord heard that prayer!).
Is faith the same as "trust"? Many so define it; but there are different words in the original Greek of the New Testament to define either faith or trust. They are not identical. "Trust" implies a self-centered concern, like you trust your bank or you trust the police; to "trust" or "believe" in Jesus in order to escape hell or to obtain the reward of "mansions in the sky" cannot be the meaning of "faith which works by love [agape]."
To understand what is "faith" we need therefore to explore the meaning of agape, otherwise we shall be imprisoned in the lukewarmness of the "church of Laodicea" (Rev. 3:14-17). That seventh church needs above all else to understand what is "the gold tried in the fire" that Jesus says we need above all else … which is "faith." But empty words don't help. Must we spend a lifetime without discovering soul-saving truth? We must not! We must not hear the Lord tell us at last, Sorry, "I never knew you" (Matt. 7:23).
In reading the treasures of Second Corinthians we come upon a guide: 9:15 says, "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!" That outburst of gratitude is revealing. Gratitude is not a prayer asking for something; gratitude is the response of the heart for having received something, or having learned something. The Greek word "unspeakable" includes the negative "a" followed by "expressible," a heart appreciation for something that is beyond suitable expression of understanding.
Agape is the love that drove the Son of God in His incarnation to "taste death for every man," to "taste" the accumulated crime, iniquity, sin, disgrace, depravity of "all men" when He was "made to be sin for us, who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21). It was painful.
The conclusion would be that faith is a heart appreciation of the love of a Savior who would and who did die your second death; who "poured out His soul unto death" (Isa. 53:12), who "emptied Himself" (Phil. 2:8). If that is the genuine thing, then it is understandable how "the agape of Christ constraineth us ... henceforth [not] to live unto ourselves but unto Him who died for [us]" (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). You still have your free will, but it's joyously captive in a sense more sublime than when you "fall in love" in our earthly sense. Now it's your eternal joy to be His slave, a constant, eternal willingness motivated by love.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 23, 2006.Copyright © 2011 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them to subscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
------------------------------
Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.
