Continuing In Faith, Hope & Love (Part 2)
Continuing In Faith, Hope & Love - Part 2
Yeow Chin Kiong
The cultivation of personal faith is too important a matter for anyone to ignore for ìts ultimate end or purpose is "the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:9). At its core is belief in the person, work and words of Jesus Christ as the only-begotten Son of God so that we can receive the gift of life in Christ's name (John 20:31) instead of dying in our sin (John 8:24). However, there are other elements of our faith which make up "the whole counsel of God " (Acts 20: 26-27; Hebrews 6:1-3).
There is no denying that our faith, trust or belief may waver according to changing circumstances around us. As taught in Mark 9:23-24, we should not be satisfied with our degree of unbelief but do something about it while holding on to the belief which we already possess. In that passage, a father with an ailing son, on being told by Jesus that, "all things are possible to him who believes," replied honestly but hopefully, "Lord, I believe; help me my unbelief." In that age of miracles, our Lord restored the boy by removing the deaf and dumb spirit from him, which should have increased the father's faith or belief in the Lord. That was the purpose of works of wonder then (Mark 16:17-20).
However, with the cessation of miracles, unclean spirits and Divine revelations prophesied in Zechariah 13:1-2 and fulfilled according to 1 Corinthians 13:8-13, faith or belief can only be increased by turning more diligently to the word of God (Romans 10:17). Indeed, faith is a matter of the Head,- the human mind or intellect,- and can be strengthened by delving (literally "digging", in Old English) into the holy scriptures. By continually coming into serious contact with God's word, we are made wise unto salvation and equipped for good works which sanctifies us (John 17:17; 2 Timothy 3:14-17).
To begin with, we should have a habit of daily reading bite-size portions through the entire 1189 chapters of the 66 books of the Bible, end-to-end repeatedly, for as long as we are able to do so. Set aside a specific hour each day, not to study deeply the portion of scripture but to imbibe the language and phraseology of a particular version of the Bible so that that they become familiar to us. This is daily Bible reading to engrain scripture into our personal moral and intellectual constitution until quoting God's word becomes second nature to us in all we say or do.
In addition, we must APPLY God's word in our life, using it as a lens for us to interpret the world around us and use that interpretation to mold our personal conduct and behavior. This is what we should be doing, according to Hebrews 5:12-14,- use or apply the scriptures as solid food to have our senses "exercised to discern both good and evil." By contextual application of God's word, we allow it to be in all our problem-solving, conflict-resolution and decision-making as "a lamp to (our) feet and a light to (our) way." (Psalm 119:105).
If we are to strengthen our brethren' faith, those of us who preach and teach must "speak as the oracles of God" (1 Peter 4:11) so that brethren hear God's word speaking to them,- albeit in translation,- and not ourselves. Whatever our message, we ought to have a scripture quotation or scripture reference to support its points (Acts 17:11). Only then can we reasonably expect the brethren to say and do things in the Name of our Lord (Colossians 3:17) and to His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31), displaying their faith.