Living by Faith

The older I get, and the more I think about it, the more it seems to me that what is really important is to get it right when it comes to the core realities of the Christian faith. And that includes understanding what faith is, and what it means to live and walk by faith.

Words like ‘faith’ and ‘believe’ can inadvertently become for us just jargon words – we get so used to hearing them that we don’t think very deeply about what they really mean. So, for me, it’s often helpful to come up with synonyms or other words that can re-focus or enrich my understanding of some of the key words of Christianity.

When it comes to faith, Dr. James Grier often uses the words ‘confidence’ and ‘allegiance.’ Faith, then, is understood as confidence in God – a confident trust that he will do me all the good that is offered in the Gospel and promised in the Word. It’s a deep confidence and conviction that God will always be a loving, wise and holy Father to me, and that he will always love and care for me as his dear child. Faith is confidence in God.

But that confidence produces allegiance towards God too. (Confidence is trusting Jesus as Savior; allegiance is submitting to him as Lord.) Allegiance has to do with living under the lordship of Christ, ‘obeying all things, whatsoever he has commanded.’ (Matt.28:20). Allegiance has to do with seeking first his kingdom and righteousness and about not trying to serve two masters (which Jesus says it’s impossible to do – Matt.6:24, 33). Allegiance also means we won’t love the world or the things in the world, because we love the Father too much instead (1 John 2:15-17).

And allegiance shows itself in the attitude of Paul, when he wrote, “…I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Phil.3:12ff.)

So, what does it mean to live by faith? It means that, by God’s grace, and nurtured by his Spirit-illuminated Word, I will daily (hourly) live out of a confidence in God and an allegiance toward God – I’ll keep trusting Jesus as my Savior, and submitting to him as my Lord.