It is a word that is tossed around all the time in the world of Christians. Sometimes it is tossed very lightly. Sometimes it is held on to too tightly. And sometimes it is just another word in the scheme of life.
But when you ask people what faith is, the definition does not come so easily. Some people say it is a belief. Some say it is trusting in something you can't see. Some say it is believing in something.
There are people that say that we need to strengthen our faith. That we need to have more faith. We need to have stronger faith. But what does all that mean? How do you strengthen your faith when you aren't exactly sure what faith is? How do you become strong in your faith? That is a good question.
I was listening to a sermon by David Asscherick called "Eyes Wide Shut". It is on YouTube if you want to look it up and watch it. I recommend you doing so. And, no, I am not being paid to have you watch it. This is not a plug in. But I really enjoyed the sermon. I am not going to rehash the sermon. I would rather you watch it than me tell you about it. But there are some things that really got my attention and got me to thinking.
The first is faith is seeing what God sees. It is not seeing what we see. Our imperfect vision cannot see through the eyes of God. But God can use our eyes to see like He does. So what does that mean, to see what God sees? I had a dream the other night that I was driving down the road. But I noticed up ahead that I could not see what was beyond a hump in the road. It looked almost like a roller coaster when you are about to go down a steep slope. You see nothing and feel like you are going to fall off the edge of the roller coaster. This is how I felt in my dream. I felt that there was no more road to drive on and that if I kept going, I would fall off the road and end up falling to my demise. This is seeing as I see. Not as God sees. I see with fear and trepidation. I see no end in sight. I see road blocks and detours. But God sees hope. He sees the road ahead. He sees safety. Through God's eyes, I should see the road that I cannot see. It is through His eyes that I know that I can keep going. Through His eyes, I am given His strength to continue. It is not about me. It is about Him. It is about following His direction. It is about His perfection in our imperfection. Believing in a perfect God in an imperfect world. And seeing perfectly through His eyes.
This is how Noah was able to build an ark. This is how Abraham was able to leave everything he knew to follow God. This is how Moses was able to lead the Israelites out of Egypt through the Red Sea. They were able to see what God saw even though they themselves could not see it.
The second point that really hit me is that through faith we are able to see ourselves as God sees us, others as God see them, and the world as God sees it. This really made me think. In Matthew 25: 31-46, Jesus tells a parable in which the righteous and unrighteous are separated on two sides. He called the righteous to Him because they fed Him, clothed Him, visited Him in prison and in the hospital. They did not understand how this was possible. How did they do these things for Jesus? Jesus said "If you did it to the least of these, you did it for me." The righteous were able to see the world as God saw it. They saw the needs of the people and saw them through the eyes of God.
If the righteous did these things to Jesus because they did it for others, then would it not be the same if we did unrighteous things to others? Would we not then also being doing them to Jesus? If we gossip, does that mean we are gossiping about Jesus? If we cheat in our relationships, then are we not also cheating on Jesus? If we hurt someone, are we not hurting Jesus as well?
Our actions take a lot more meaning than we give them. We should look at others as God looks at them. We should love others as God loves them.
How are we able to call ourselves Christians but not treat others as God would treat them? If we saw others as God saw them, this world would be a much better place to live in. There would be more love and less hate. There would be more fellowship and less distance. There would be more growing in Christ and less growing away from Christ. We need to have faith. And we need to express our faith. We need to see as God sees and share what we see through Him.
I want my faith to rest in the eyes of Jesus. I want to see what He sees and not what I see. I want to treat others as He would treat them. I want to love like He loves. I want THAT kind of faith. But this is only possible By God's Amazing Grace.
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