Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Robert Murray McCheyne
The Object of Your Faith
Our faith is no stronger than the object of our faith. For example, if our faith is in our favorite team to win the championship, it’s only as strong as the team is, but if your faith is in Jesus Christ, the Object of your Faith is more trustworthy because it’s not dependent upon circumstances. The All-Powerful (omnipotent) God is sovereign over nature and no man can stand against His purpose. By the way, faith and trust are closely related, because if you can trust something with your life, as in the Christian’s its eternal life, you have faith like the Apostle Paul who wrote, “for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me” (2nd Tim 1:12).
The Assurance of Your Faith
If you had to cross the street with a child, you wouldn’t expect the child to hold on to you, rather, you’d make sure you had the child’s hand. The child would have assurance knowing you’ve got them and not they’ve got you. Jesus, in speaking of assurance, told the disciples, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27) and this is absolutely tree. Sheep won’t follow someone who pulls up next to them in a car and calls them. But when they hear their shepherd’s voice, they immediately follow Him and in the shepherd’s care is no better place to be as Jesus assures them, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:28-29).
The Durability of Your Faith
The Bible speaks of the death of the believer but not as an ending but a new beginning as they enter into eternal life with Christ. When Jesus went to Mary and Martha to resurrect Lazarus, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this” (John 11:25-26)? Jesus asks everyone, “Do you believe this?” I pray you do. Eternal life in Christ crashes through the barrier of death because “neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39).
The Foundation of Your Faith
The New Testament teaching is that the apostles and the prophets are the foundation of the church but Jesus is the chief cornerstone to which the whole building stands. Paul tells us that we “are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord” (Eph 2:19-21). That’s a rock-solid foundation upon which to stand in your faith.
Conclusion
The fact is that trees grow most rapidly during periods of strong winds than trees that are indoors or in enclosed buildings with little or no wind. These trees are more susceptible to disease because they have never had to put up any resistance so they never grew in strength. So too is the Christian life; we are made stronger by the struggle.
