As important as an act of faith is at a point in time, the Christian life is a walk of faith—continuing acts of obedience. Sometimes the notion of “blind faith” creeps into our understanding of walking by faith as well. Didn’t Paul say that “we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7)? He did, but as David Clark explains,
“this means only that at times a Christian may rightly allow faith, in the sense of trust in God, to guide his thinking even though he has no direct evidence. For instance, if I trust my friend and he says he will do something for me, I may rightly believe he will do it, even when I lack direct evidence what he will fulfill his promise. . . . Loyalty and allegiance, based partly on past experience, may rightly guide my thinking and acting.”
This same sentiment is expressed in Hebrews 11 where these courageous men and woman did not allow their circumstances to have the final word. Rather, they continued to look forward to what had been promised with hope and trust.
Faith in this context is a confident expectation in the promises and faithfulness of God. This is what it means for the righteous to live by faith (Rom. 1:17). We trust God even in the midst of difficult times because He is faithful. We trust Him even when the fog of life rolls in making it difficult to see the way forward. This is the kind of faith God is pleased with (Heb. 11:6).
God give us the courage to trust you in the midst of what we don’t understand. Thank you for your past faithfulness that we can lean into in the every day circumstances of life.
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If you found this post helpful, you would enjoy “Should Christians Have Doubts?”
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