This Life of Faith

May 5, 2016

This Life of Faith

^“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NRSV)

The Apostle Paul beautifully summarizes God’s purpose for our transformation to become like Jesus: “so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:29b). The personal realization of this lofty goal became Paul’s ambition in life: “everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). Paul kept moving toward that goal because he knew his transformation, his perfection in the life of Christ was the reason that Christ saved him. “It’s not that I have already reached this goal or have already been perfected, but I pursue it, so that I may grab hold of it because Christ grabbed hold of me for just this purpose” (Philippians 3:12 CEB). The Apostle Peter teaches us that God has given us everything we need for living the life in Christ. We have received all of this by coming to know Jesus. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

When I am resting in the assurance that I am Abba’s beloved, when I am looking to Abba to fully meet my needs for love, acceptance and self-worth, I am living the life in Christ as my way of life. This is the life of faith that is totally dependent upon God fulfilling His promises. This life of faith is inversely proportional: my self-reliance decreases and my dependence on God increases. I’m convinced that each and every day I am presented with choice, after choice, after choice between my way and God’s way. To the extent I am grounded by faith that I am the beloved of God, I believe I am prepared to make choices consistent with living a godly life.

Some teachers suggest that God intentionally orchestrates events in our lives so as to increase our need of Him. That has not been my experience. We live in a fallen world dominated by our sinful flesh as well as the forces of evil. We have an endless supply of broken dreams, trials and difficulties in life, and thus opportunities abound for us to choose between trusting God, or to relying on our natural instincts.

I’ve been asked if the life in Christ gets easier the longer we walk with God. Yes, I think so, because it is possible to grow and mature in grace and the knowledge of God’s ways. The frequency of the choices set before us may well increase; but the sharp contrast between the life in Christ where our needs are met by grace, through faith, and the performance-based-acceptance culture where we live never diminishes.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.