… because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus …
Summary: Trying to define faith can challenge our sensibilities.
When was the last time you heard about someone’s faith in Christ Jesus? Is that something you talk about with people? Do the folks in your circle know people of faith? If they do, what does that faith look like?
What do you suppose Paul had heard about the Colossians?
Each of us is known for something. Sometimes, as in my case, it is for horrible puns or painful “dad jokes.” Other people are known for the things they have, like their cars or boats. Some people are known because they like to fish or hunt. But what does it take to be known for your faith in Jesus?
One thing it doesn’t take is a big audience.
Not everyone will feed five thousand people at a sitting, but every day, someone provides a meal for another person. The Colossians may have shared everything they had with each other (See Acts 4:32-37)? Perhaps they openly proclaimed Jesus Christ wherever they went?
We don’t know.
Paul doesn’t tell us in his letter, and honestly, it is not that important. What is significant is our understanding of faith.
The author of Hebrews defines faith as “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). He doesn’t define faith as what we do but rather as confidence and assurance in things we cannot see.
I’ve often thought of faith this way:
Imagine you are in a large room. The floor of the room is divided by a wide crevasse that spans the width of the room. The crevasse is so deep that the bottom is not visible. The only way to get from one side of the room to the other is by crossing the crevasse using a bridge made from glass.
The bridge looks frail. The glass is nearly invisible. It is hard to imagine trusting your life to something so unsubstantial. Yet you know the designer of the bridge personally. You know the work that went into its design and construction. You have faith that it will support your weight.
Faith is stepping out onto the bridge and walking across.
Faith in Christ shows up when we live in gratitude for what Jesus has done for us. Faith in Christ is trusting what Jesus teaches us in the Bible. To have faith in Jesus is to act as if Jesus were standing right by your side … because he is.
Application: Trust God’s Word.
Food for Thought: What do you look for in a person who demonstrates faith in God?
In a word: perseverance.
Faith is reflected not necessarily in a sprint, but in a marathon.
James 1: 2 – 4: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, a whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Hebrews 12: 1 – 2: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
Romans 5: 1 – 5: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we a have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we b boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we c also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
By the way, to your devotion, there is a glass walkway over a huge drop off in China (looks like several thousand feet), in which the architect designed the glass to look like the glass is breaking as you walk on it. That was just cruel 😊
Rich,
You jumped way past “basic faith” to “advanced faith!” 🙂
What you say is true! The test of faith is whether or not it endures.
(Yes – I think I’ve seen a video about the walkway you describe. “Cruel” is the right word! It is also a good illustration about putting faith in the things of man — we are at heart fickle and cruel. Not to be trusted!)
Thank You Rich.
What do you look for in a person who demonstrates faith in God?
The faithful trust in Jesus alone. True faith in Jesus is in those who reject all other ways of salvation. We cannot trust in Jesus and anything else.
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Salvation is exclusive. Jesus is the only way (John 14:6).
It is refreshing to meet with a brother in Christ. One who shares our faith and we can experience, Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
Amen, Ron. Amen!
Faith recognizes faith when it sees it. When the faith God places in our heart sees the faith of God’s Son, we recognize the template for all faith.