I’ve been thinking about faith and looking at different verses about it. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
This verse tells us that faith is the foundation for the Christian life and that it is how all unseen things get tested.
As I was reading different verses, I came to Galatians. Paul wrote this letter because false teachers were convincing the Galatians that they were required to be circumcised. This caused great division within the church, so Paul wrote to them, offering many reasons to return to the simple truth of the gospel.
As I read this letter, I asked God to help me put words on a page, and I found the following short devotional in my study Bible. Sam Storms wrote it, and it spoke to my heart. As I pray, it will speak to you.
The blessings that come to us through faith in Jesus Christ are precious beyond words. To be forgiven of our sins, redeemed from spiritual bondage, reconciled to God, and adopted into His family. And given hope that it cannot be shaken, it is of such value that we struggle to measure its worth. But the greatest gift of all is that we are justified by faith in Christ. How shall we fully grasp what it means to stand before God of infinite holiness and purity and hear him declare us righteous?
Unbelievers often, at least subconsciously, envision life as a Ledger book. On one side, a person’s religious and moral assets are listed. Here are enumerated the many good deeds, the financial sacrifices made for those less well off, the promises kept, and the performance of countless religious rituals. We hope these moral accomplishments outnumber the liabilities and spiritual debts in the other column across the page. Everything that we owe God but have failed to pay. Life becomes a tedious and unsatisfying attempt to amass more assets than debts. But it is all to no avail.
When faith comes alive in the human heart, we must trust and treasure Christ above all else. God takes Jesus’ blood and wipes the debt side of that Ledger clean. Every deficit, every debt, every liability, every sin, and every failure. But he doesn’t stop there as we look across the page to the asset side of the Ledger. We see but one word: Christ. His righteousness is our sole possession. He is our only credit. He is our only hope. All our confidence and trust are now in him alone.
Through our religious works be many, they are of no saving value. The apostle had the righteousness that came from the law, but it availed for nothing. It gave him no confidence in God’s presence. No matter how much we may obtain, we can never know if it’s enough, for God requires absolute and utter perfection. Even if we succeed in observing a religious ritual or conforming to a moral law, there is no guarantee that we will continue to do so in the future. And how would we even know whether the righteousness we think we have produced is precisely the righteousness that God requires? It’s hopeless. Our righteousness must come from a source beyond ourselves.
We must put our confidence in a righteousness that comes through faith in Christ. (Galatians, 2:16) We do not gain righteousness because of faith or based on faith as if faith were the God-approved substitute for good works.
To that in which the soul has placed its trust, hope, and confidence, justifying faith, looks to Christ alone.
Have you allowed God to come in and write “PAID IN FULL by My Son” on your faith ledger?
Join me next week as I share one of my faith testimonies.
More reading:
https://www.bible.com/bible/59/HEB.11.1
