The Gift of Faith

The common understanding of faith is that it is a skill or a virtue. We speak of some having great faith, as though they have worked for their ability to trust God and got to where they are over time and discipline. We also speak of some as having little faith, as though they are immature and need more discipline to be better at trusting God.

Faith is not something we can master. It is not measured by your own strength, but in the reliability of the thing you put your faith in. If you put your faith in a lousy chair and it breaks underneath you, it’s not your faith that fails, it’s the fact that you put your faith in something that was unreliable. Replace that chair with a reliable one, and using the same amount of faith, you sit down without falling, the only thing that has changed is the fact that you are now resting on a reliable chair.

If you put your faith in your own ability to save yourself from sin, your salvation rests in the hands of an unreliable source. However, if you put your faith in Jesus Christ, the One who has never failed and will always be reliable, your salvation is guaranteed.

Thanks be to God, who’s justice is perfect and who’s mercy is sufficient. It is only because of God’s gift that we can be saved. Romans 3:21-26.