"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Hebrews 11:6
faith is a must. faith is the entrance point to a relationship
with God. he interacts with us based on His grace, we
respond in faith. given the basis of
this type of relationship we understand how important faith is to the believer.
In fact, our scripture passage boldly
declares that without it, it is impossible to please God because the simple
truth remains that we must believe
that He is before we can come to Him.
If faith is the starting point, then it makes sense that faith is a key
element for life. Throughout
the Gospels, Jesus commented on people’s faith. In most cases He asked and wondered where it
was, saying ‘you of little faith’ or
‘where is your faith?’ On other occasions He marveled, as in the
example of the centurion solider (MATTHEW 8:5-13). When the centurion came to
Jesus asking for help for his servant Jesus agreed to come with him. But in a
marvelous display of faith, he told Jesus to just say the word and it would be
done; citing his understanding of authority and appropriating it. “When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found
anyone in Israel with such great faith. The centurion’s faith
made Jesus stop and marvel which is noteworthy. “Then
Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It
will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at
that very hour”. The healing
took place according to the faith of the solider and in the manner he asked
for, Jesus just came into agreement with the faith that had been displayed.
If it is impossible to please God without faith, Then the opposite
is also true; faith is what pleases God. As in our examples from the gospels, faith was
important to Jesus, He looked for it and responded to it everywhere He went.
So the
underlying truth to draw from is that God
responds to faith. just
as parents and caretakers respond to babies smiling, god responds to our
faith. It pleases Him, it moves Him to
act and it is essential in the life of the believer.
prayer—father i thank you that you have given
to me the measure of faith. i purpose in
my heart to live by faith and to please you, in jesus name. amen.
