Devotional Thought of the Day:

²⁷ Those who abandon you will certainly perish; you will destroy those who are unfaithful to you. ²⁸ But as for me, how wonderful to be near God, to find protection with the Sovereign LORD and to proclaim all that he has done! Psalm 73:27-28 (TEV)

Faith is a godly work in us that changes us, makes us to be born anew of God (John 1:13), puts to death the old Adam, and turns us into completely new persons in heart, in soul, in mind, and in all our powers.

I’ve studied a few different languages, and while many of them take a while to learn, they have basic rules. There are more jokes about the exceptions in English that could be easily dealt with in this post. For example, you can put together a paragraph with all the exceptions of the “i before e except after c”.

We have words that are spelled the same but with a multiplicity of meanings. We have to look carefully sometimes to see whether the word is being used as a noun, an adjective or a verb in the sentence.

Faith is one of those words, is it a noun, a verb, a passive verb, an active verb, and how does the usage of the word shade its meaning, or completely change.

Is it a belief, or a group of beliefs, a belief in someone. Is that belief simply knowledge, a collection of data we learn and store away? When we talk of faith are we referring to a group of doctrines or a religion? Which definition goes where?

I like the definition above from a book of Luther’s Spirituality. It reminds us that faith has its origin, not in our heart, mind. or soul, but in the one that we are trusting in, the one we depend upon.

Faith is possible, it grows out of our realization that God is trustworthy, He is dependable. He will do exactly what is promised, including the transformation in our lives that sometimes seems excruciatingly slow. But it is His work, in His time, this transformation that we can see by faith.

It is why the Psalmist finds so moving, this idea of having God weave through every part of our lives, so integrated in them, so near. To realize that God is at work in us, creating that faith even as the work He does leaves us amazed. Even as we find ourselves safe.

This is where faith begins and grows, as we see God at work in us… not apart from those works, but because of them. It takes off as we realize we are in His presence, that He has drawn us here, to heal, comfort, encourage empower us. But mostly He gathers us to show us His love.

Lord, help us ot see Your work in our lives, and help us to grow to depend more and more on Your being involved. AMEN

Luther, M. (2007). Luther’s Spirituality. (P. D. W. Krey, B. McGinn, & P. D. S. Krey, Eds., P. D. S. Krey & P. D. W. Krey, Trans.) (pp. 104–105). New York; Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.