Faith is the God-implanted, natural and only way by which man can go through all the processes of doing or obtaining the things he desires
Norman Grubb ~ The Law Of Faith
His disciples implored Jesus to increase their faith {Lukes Account 17:5}. The apostle Paul speaks to not walking by sight, but by our faith {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:7}. Growing up in the mainstream church, I was told all too often of the importance having faith. That if I desired anything from God, that it was more faith that I needed. Yet here, as in more than a few other circumstances, the mainstream church has missed the mark. We understand that we have been created by God in His exact image {Genesis 1:27}. We also understand that it is God who has given unto us the breath of life that we have become a living soul {Genesis 2:7}. Therefore, those attributes we associate with God have been given to us as well. How is it that we can be created in Gods very image and not share in that identity of who He is? The author Norman Grubb writes in The Law Of Faith that we are created in Gods image, with all of the attributes of His personality. We feel. We desire. We think and we speak. All of these are attributes of the Father who created us. These attributes in themselves are neutral, neither good nor evil. Our faith is among these attributes which we have received from the Father. The rub comes when we, possessing these attributes of the Father, choose to use them in a way they were never intended. We get angry, we lash out at others, we choose hate over His one true nature of love {First Epistle of John 4:8}. People ask me constantly, how can God be proud of a creation which is inherently wicked? Well, this isn't the way we were designed by Him to be. This is the path our own choices have led us to. For man has been created with the free attribute of the Lord to choose for himself. Adam and Eve chose, and the church continues to live out those dire consequences to this very day. It is the church which continues to preach that man is somehow separated from his creator as a result of the wrong choices of Adam and Eve in the garden. Nothing could be further from the truth. For God has now reconciled His creation unto Him through the work of Jesus on the cross {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:21}. We are no longer condemned, but reconciled.
Faith is action. By faith alone can a man act. Faith carries out the urges of love. Faith works by love.
Norman Grubb~ The Law Of faith
What I have described is not merely a story, but the truth of how we have been reconciled, through Jesus, to the Father once again. Now, we can choose to utilize our God given faith and accept this truth for what it is, or we can choose to ignore it. The fact is, our faith is ever present within us. It dictates all which we do. We see food, and we have faith that we can eat it for our nourishment. If that faith is somehow disrupted, however, we will fail to see that food as a good thing. We have been created with these attributes of the Father to live a certain way {First Epistle of John 5:4}. As Norman Grubb writes, do we utilize our attribute of faith to walk after the flesh or after the Spirit? We can choose either path. Adam and Eve chose the path of the flesh and humanity paid the price for that choice. Through Christ Jesus, we are once again reconciled to the Father. As I think back, I never really needed to "Increase my measure of faith" as the church once told me. What I needed was to realize the God given attribute of faith that I possessed as being created in His likeness. By faith we trust that we are not only created by God, but truly live in union with Him {Johns Account 14:20}.
By these men are made "after the similitrude of God," and by them they walk the course of this world. What matters is, do they walk after the flesh, or after the Spirit?
Norman Grubb ~ The Law Of Faith
~Scott~
No comments:
Post a Comment