Live by Faith part 1
There are four verses in the KJV that say, "The just shall live by faith." Well, one of them says, "The just shall live by his faith." But you get the point. So its funny to me that we always hear about WALKING by faith but not LIVING by faith. And, really, they are kind of the same thing. God made the Way of Grace for us through the cross and we respond with the Walk of Faith. I always say you can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. And that's kind of how I feel about this, too. You can live without walking, but you can't walk without living. And, really, the version of "living" that we so often settle for isn't really living at all. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. You can't have one without the other, because they are the same thing. And you can't live a life of love without faith. Because, as Jesus said in Mark 11:22, we are to, "...Have faith in God." And God is love. So we live a life of love by having faith in love. We walk by faith, not by sight, and we walk the path of Jesus' eternal, everlasting, abundant, Resurrection Life of Love by letting HIM walk with our feet. By letting HIM live in us, and through us, and as us. I was going to quote some of the different "live by faith" verses (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38), and I might in the next few days, but for today I want to hit Galatians 2:20. "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." And I want to focus on the part that says, "Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Because if you're trying to live Jesus' life, you're not living by faith. And you're going to be frustrated. Because nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. You can't works and labor--effort--your way into this thing. You can't earn a gift. So stop trying. Receive the gift that has already been given to you. Jesus gave His life FOR us, but He also gave His life TO us. So that we could live by letting HIM live in us, and through us, and as us. And did you catch that part at the end of the memory verse? We live by the faith of the son of God. And there's two ways that I can see to interpret that: 1. Faith IN the son of God... letting Him be Himself in us. 2. We live by HIS faith. I've long held--and plan on digging into this concept in this Rant series--that OUR faith is only expected to connect us to HIS faith. Because, when you think about it, when we're talking about "the just" living by faith... who is just? Jesus, right? HE lives by faith and we live by HIS faith. I believe that when Jesus said, "...If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23)... I believe that Jesus was talking about HIMSELF. "If you can believe in ME--the One who believes--then all things are possible." Our faith gets us to Him, and then His faith gets us all the way to where HE wants us to be. Because its HIS life. HE is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Believing in God... believing in love... is what makes it all worthwhile. That's what makes it all possible. HIS faith is how we love. HIS faith is who we live. Because, one more time, to live IS to love and to love is to live. We live by faith... in love. We walk, and talk, and live, and move, and have our being... in love. Its all about love!