The Faith of God
The Bible defines faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Assurance and conviction are both rooted in the depth of my being. Faith is rest, trust, and certainty in Jesus - not only in who He is, but who He says that I am. Faith is not blind belief in an invisible God. Faith is personal trust in the Lord that grows through experiential relationship with Him. It is a deep persuasion I hold about His love for me because I experience this love in operation. Faith is not about my performance. It cannot grow from human works, but comes from a deep knowing of Christ. This knowing is not intellectual, but intuitive.
Our faith is meant to grow and develop as we walk in relationship with the Lord. This does not mean that the growth of our faith is entirely in our hands. We are a performance-driven society. We have a tendency to set goals and then climb into formulas, routines, and self-effort to achieve these goals. It is very easy for this mindset to leak into our Christian walk, making our faith more about performance than intentional relationship with Jesus. We are quick to seek out reading plans, conferences, fasting schedules, and the latest Christian fad to accelerate our growth and bring ourselves closer to Jesus. There is nothing inherently wrong with plans, conferences, and the like, but these tools and resources can actually harm us when they become aids to human striving towards God. What if instead of “pressing in to God,” we merely allowed Him to open our eyes to see what is already there?
The writer of Hebrews says that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.
Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV) “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
What does the writer of Hebrews mean when he says that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith? He means that our faith is not our own - it has been, and always will be, in the hands of God. Jesus is salvation and our direct access point to the life of the Father. “Coming to faith” is our adoption of the faith Jesus has already authored through His life, death, and resurrection. In fact, Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, mentions something interesting about faith.
Galatians 2:20 (KJV) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
Paul did not consider his faith his own! Instead, he had completely adopted the faith of Jesus through His spiritual rebirth in Christ. When we receive salvation, we adopt the faith of the Son of God. It is a faith that Jesus had envisioned before the beginning of time. He now perfects and “finishes” this faith within us as we are gradually conformed to His image by the Holy Spirit, through the renewing of the mind.
In Galatians, Paul vehemently attacks religious legalism that had begun to poison the liberty of his brothers and sisters in Christ. Galatians is a polemic against “performance Christianity” - trying to earn God in human effort - and a defense of the freedom that comes when we adopt the faith of Jesus. What Paul is getting at in this verse from Galatians is that faith is entirely a gift from God. It is not acquired by human works or religious systems. Faith is relationship, not religion. Religion pressures us to grow our faith by human works. Relationship says yes to intimacy with Jesus through shared trust. Religion says believe to be included. Relationship says believe you are already included. In religion, fear and rules keep God at a distance. In relationship that comes through the faith of Jesus, God is closer than the air you breathe.
The faith of Jesus is everything God believes about you, His precious sons and daughters. It is God’s persuasion, trust, and certainty about you. God has so much faith in man that He sent Himself in the form of a man to reveal it. The incarnation and resurrection are a death sentence to any and all distance between God and mankind. Jesus is not merely a human teacher who gave an example for us to follow; He came as us - bearing our sin and separation, dying in that sin, resurrecting, and ascending to sit in authority. He is not a benchmark for perfect human behavior. Because He knew no sin, He is perfected human behavior. Adopting His faith allows us to share in the life He shares with the Father. Immersed in His Spirit, He is in us, and we are in Him. We have been drawn up into the heart of God.
John 17:20-23 (NIV) “I pray...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one - I in them and you in me - so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Ephesians 2:4-6 (NIV) “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with in in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”
Faith does not grow through works, intellectual knowledge, or any form of human striving. The Lord grows faith by sharpening our spiritual perception and enlightening our minds and hearts to see things as He does. Our sole responsibility is to abide and rest in Him, keeping the worship of our heart fixed on Jesus. As we do, Jesus does a work in us. We begin to see differently, believe differently, talk differently, and pray differently. We begin to experience the world as Jesus does. We are brought into a deeper and deeper revelation of our heavenly identity, inheritance, and destiny. It is a grand unveiling of the eternal things that have already been etched into our hearts by the hand of God. We are transformed to see ourselves as He sees us. He brings us from glory to glory, from faith to faith.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV) “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
Romans 1:17 (NIV) “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed - a righteousness that is from faith to faith, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”
Our faith is not our own. It was purchased at costly price by the Son of God, so we could become the sons of God. We could not get to heaven in our own efforts, so Jesus brought heaven to us. The renewing of the mind finds its basis in this incredible reality.
