Faith that Works

Are we prepared to see faith at work all the time?  Is faith for Sundays or special days, or is faith for everyday.  Solomon said that there is a time for this and a time for that.  Is the same true for faith?  This was the topic chosen by one of our young people as they presented their essays at confirmation. I told her I would borrow her idea for a daily devotion, and here it is. 

The answer that far too many people give to the question of when faith is at work is the wrong answer.  Far too many see faith life as Sunday and special days.  They have put their lives into little compartments and faith is let out right on schedule each week.  But after being aired for a brief season of worship, it is placed back into its cubicle and left there until the next “faith” exercise comes into play. 

God, on the other hand, tells us to walk by faith.  That means that faith cannot be put away and taken out at appropriate times.  Whenever we are awake then our faith should be at work.  As we looked at two weeks ago, it can also be at work when we sleep.  We can place our confident faith in God as we lie down and then sleep in faith the whole night through.  But while we are in our waking moments we are never to let our faith life sleep.

Each moment of each day we are confronted by various trials and temptations.  Satan does not sleep. He is after Christ’s flock to devour them at all times.  But he doesn’t work alone.  We also face our other two prime enemies: the world and the flesh.  How to overcome this triune assault of evil is impossible in our own strength.  That is why we are called upon to walk by faith.  We need to trust that God is able to deliver us and faithfully call upon Him to do so.  We must believe that God desires to direct us and call upon Him to do so.  We must constantly believe that God is always ready to forgive us and call upon Him to do so.  These are matters of faith and we need it to be active and alive each moment of each day.  When is the time for faith?  It is all the time.  Try this new paraphrase of the old song found in Ecclesiastes 3. 

There is a time for everything which God in grace ordains

A time to live and love and die, a time to lose and gain

A time to weep a time to laugh, a time to sow and reap

But in all the times from God’s great hand, it’s time for faith to keep

You can contact me and find inspiring Christian books at my website: www.davidccraig.net

You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at http://blog.febc.org/

You may also enjoy my new Gospel dog blog, The Gospel According to Molly