Manna Monday- Faith Leads to Faithfulness

Sometimes we need a good reminder about faith. I pray this post meets you where you are and encourages your faith walk for Christ.

What does it mean to have faith and how is it connected to faithfulness? Do you consider faith and faithfulness separately or do you view them as a whole. One leads to the other.

FAITH

Faith is simply believing in a greater reality. It's believing in something you cannot see.

"..faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1).

But we do waver and at times walk by sight instead of faith. When we go back to the bible we are reminded that believers are to, "...walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).

FAITHFULNESS

Faithfulness is an action. It reveals our inward beliefs. It's the outward proof that God is who we love and desire to obey.

On the road of life, faith is the driving force behind our faithfulness to God. If we are lacking faith in believing His word, our faithfulness to Him will waver. At other times we will be close behind Him because we are convinced of His truth and our faithfulness to Him will be solid and strong.

Romans 1:17 tells us that “The righteous shall live by faith.” Believers don't sometimes live by faith or kind of live by faith. They LIVE by faith. Live, move, and breathe by faith. I love how the great theologian John Wesley illustrated what it meant to walk by faith.

They that live by faith, walk by faith. But what is implied in this? They regulate all their judgments concerning good and evil, not with reference to visible and temporal things, but to things invisible and eternal. They think visible things to be of small value, because they pass away like a dream; but, on the contrary, they account invisible things to be of high value, because they will never pass away. Whatever is invisible is eternal; the things that are not seen, do not perish. So the Apostle: "The things that are seen are temporal; but the things that are not seen are eternal." Therefore, they that "walk by faith" do not desire the "things which are seen;" neither are they the object of their pursuit. They "set their affections on things above, not on things on the earth." They seek only the things which are "where Jesus sitteth at the right hand of God." Because they know, "the things that are seen are temporal," passing away like a shadow, therefore they "look not at them;" they desire them not; they account them as nothing; but "they look at the things which are not seen, that are eternal," that never pass away. By these they form their judgment of all things. They judge them to be good or evil, as they promote or hinder their welfare, not in time, but in eternity. They weigh whatever occurs in this balance: "What influence has it on my eternal state?" They regulate all their tempers and passions, all their desires, joys, and fears, by this standard. They regulate all their thoughts and designs, all their words and actions, so as to prepare them for that invisible and eternal world to which they are shortly going. (Source:http://christianbookshelf.org/wesley/sermons_on_several_occasions/sermon_113_the_difference_between.htm)

I love what he said, "What influence has it on my eternal state?" Do you ask this question when you make choices in life? Or do you make choices and never think about how today matters for eternity? Do you make choices to be faithful to God based on His word or based on how you feel? Do you consider your eternal future as somewhere down the road or do you consider it today, right now, in the present? Are you living day to day based on what you see OR are you living your life to prepare yourself for a greater reality of Heaven. WOW! A different way of thinking each day.

Last, life is hard and we face difficult times. It's easy for our faith to waver during these times. But what does the bible tell us to do with our eyes?  It says, "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Your faith walk reveals your faith.

Don't let it waver any more.

Fix your eyes back on Jesus.

Stay fixed on a greater reality.