Faith to Save, Faith to Change.

We error prone humans seem to always listen to half the instructions, If you are like me, maybe you have done this in regards to the Christian faith. The first half is essential and without which it is impossible to call oneself a Christian. First, faith is defined as belief in who Christ claims to be, what he did and the relationship that brings. We have to believe that he is the Son of God, that He was born of a virgin and the he was crucified for our sins and raised again. We have to trust in his forgiveness of our sins to bring us righteous to God. This is a core truth all Christians hold to. But do we ever consider the second part of faith? Faith to believe God for a change in our affections and desires, to change who we are and what we like to do? Sanctification and holiness, do we trust God for these?

How we understand this second part of faith is as important the first. Do we trust the Holy Spirit for our sanctification or do we try to live the life and walk the walk of a Christian in our own will power? I can’t stress enough how important it is we understand this correctly. For if we operate on our own strength we endanger our souls, and mightily dishonor God in the process. We endanger our souls because if we try to live the life of faith based on our abilities we have attempted the impossible and are thus sure fail. Even if we are partially successful and I think many externally religious people stop here, we are only a rule keeper and not a lover of God, our heart is far from Him. In essence we have said to God, “Thank you Jesus, I can take it from here.” and this self reliance is fatal, for at its core resides pride and the idol of self. Instead of relying on God for the power to change us we have said that we are good enough, we have trampled the blood of Christ under the feet of our will power based religion.

Something I heard John Piper say sometime back has forever changed my thinking. The analogy goes something like this. “How do you honor the mountain stream of God’s grace? Do you bring your own dirty bucket of self reliance and moral goodness as an offering to His mountain spring of grace? Or do you instead honor him by drinking deeply and thus become satisfied?” You honor God supremely when you rely on him completely.

Its important that we understand how much God is honored when we rely on him for change, and how much we dishonor Him and forfeit our own souls when we attempt our will power based religion. It’s important that we learn that we indeed are to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” and that it is God working in us “both to will and to work for his good pleasure” We work out our salvation by using every means of grace God give us, and in the end we always rely on God.

1Co 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.