Falling in Love
Faith is so much more than correct information … as much as falling in love ismore than knowing the facts about another person. When I met Mary-Anne, I didnot not even know how to spell her name, her date of birth or background, but thatdid not stop my heart from responding with a ‘wow’. When a beautiful landscapeappears before me, I instantly respond with appreciation without needing factsand figures. Faith is such a gift - its an instant response when encountering God. Whenever He reveals Himself we automatically respond with awe and adoration.Seeing what He sees causes us to believe what He believes. It is so much more thanthe pathetic ‘Statements Of Faith’ that some organisations publish. I’m so gladthat neither Jesus not Paul ever wrote a ‘Statement of Faith’ - they knew that theadoration they had in response to the beauty of the Father could never be reducedto a set of principles or neatly categorised into a doctrine. All we could ever hopeto express is an introduction, an invitation for another to see what we see.
For the Truth
‘for we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth‘ (2 Cor 13:8) Although we can do nothing against the truth, we can do something for it! We canallow it to have its full effect in us and through us. We can draw the maximumvalue and benefit from it as we combine it with faith, allowing God to persuade usfully as He is persuaded. 1Cor 1: 6 speaks about the testimony of Christ that hasbeen confirmed in us. Why do you think Paul, knowing that we can do nothing against the truth, would still risk his life and endure agonising persecution and torture for the sakeof making this truth known. Well, we don’t have to guess, he wrote about hismotivation. “For Christ’s love compels us, since we have reached this conclusion:if One died for all, then all died. And He died for all so that those who liveshould no longer live for themselves, but for the One who died for them and wasraised.” (2 Cor 5:14,15) Paul reached a conclusion - the conclusion that, whatChrist accomplished, included all mankind … yet the full implication of this truth,the benefit of this truth still eluded the masses because of ignorance. The desire forothers to enjoy the full benefit of these immutable truths, drove him to make thistruth known as accurately as possible.So what can we do for the truth? We can allow it to have its full effect in andthrough us. Allow the testimony of Christ to be confirmed in you. We do this as wecontinue to live in awe at the revelation brought to us through Jesus Christ. We dothis as we allow our enjoyment of Him to overflow into loving others - a love thatcompels us to live for more than just ourselves.The full value and benefit of the truth will be realized. He is not pressed by timeor impatient to draw all men to Himself - He has all eternity to show us the fullvalue and benefit of what He accomplished on our behalf “so that in the comingages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace in His kindness to us
F a l l i n g i n L o v e
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