Without faith it is impossible to please Him . . . —Hebrews 11:6
Faith
in active opposition to common sense is mistaken enthusiasm and
narrow-mindedness, and common sense in opposition to faith demonstrates a
mistaken reliance on reason as the basis for truth. The life of faith brings
the two of these into the proper relationship. Common sense and faith are as
different from each other as the natural life is from the spiritual, and as
impulsiveness is from inspiration. Nothing that Jesus Christ ever said is
common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete, whereas common sense
falls short. Yet faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in your
life. “We know that all things work together for good . . .” (Romans 8:28)
so that no matter what happens, the transforming power of God’s providence
transforms perfect faith into reality. Faith always works in a personal way,
because the purpose of God is to see that perfect faith is made real in His
children.
For
every detail of common sense in life, there is a truth God has revealed by
which we can prove in our practical experience what we believe God to be. Faith
is a tremendously active principle that always puts Jesus Christ first. The
life of faith says, “Lord, You have said it, it appears to be irrational, but
I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in Your Word” (for example, see Matthew 6:33).
Turning intellectual faith into our personal possession is always a fight, not just sometimes. God
brings us into particular circumstances to educate our faith, because the
nature of faith is to make the object of our faith very real to us. Until we
know Jesus, God is merely a concept, and we can’t have faith in Him. But once
we hear Jesus say, “He who has seen Me has seen the
Father” (John 14:9)
we immediately have something that is real, and our faith is limitless. Faith
is the entire person in the right relationship with God through the power of
the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
(Taken from Oswald Chambers – “My Utmost
for His Highest” October 30)