Living By Faith

 

Living by Faith

 

     Living by faith is living according to the will of God. Living by faith is a tall order even for a true believer in God. The explanation is that everybody wants to do certain things his or her own way, instead of following God’s way.

     First, becoming a believer in God is usually a long and difficult journey. Why? It’s because humans are now living in a secular society where science is the dominant religion. As a result, many don’t believe in the existence of God. However, despite the absence of God in their lives, spirituality may still be present in the hearts of many. It’s because they may still believe they’ve an unfathomable spirit within them that can provide their minds with direction, guidance, inspiration, and understanding. In other words, many are still spiritual even without the presence of God in their hearts.

     So, living by faith, one must first become a believer in God. To do that, one must have the intent to believe, which begins with the thinking mind to believe the unbelievable—that is, understanding the many paradoxes of life and existence.

     Well, what’s a paradox? A paradox is a statement with two totally opposite meanings that seem contradictory to each other, and yet when they’re put together, they not only are true but also make sense.

     Believing in God has many paradoxes: the Creator becomes a human being; the Infinite becomes finite; the Eternal One enters limited time; and death is the only way to eternal life. The Presence of God is another paradox in belief: sometimes humans see God’s love, forgiveness, mercy, and justice; other times humans see only God’s indifference, His condemnation, and even His injustice. So, knowing and understanding the presence of the many paradoxes is the recognition of one’s own imperfections and incompleteness, and thus turning oneself to seeking God.

     Seeking God requires humility, which is the opposite of pride. God is above, and humans are below. Humility opens the door to God, who never changes Himself but who forever changes those coming to Him with humility. So, that’s how belief becomes becoming, which is the self-transformation. Believing in God comes with many free gifts—eternal life, hope, joy, and peace—and the free will, which is the freedom of choice to receive or not to receive those free gifts from God. The freedom of will is based on three essentials:

 

·       Faith: Believing in the existence and the presence of God is obeying His Commandments with accountability to Him.

·       Trust: Trusting God is believing in the veracity of His Word.

 

      “so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

          It will not return to me empty,

       but will accomplish what I desire

          and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

       Isaiah: 55:11

 

·       Obedience: Obedience is doing all the right and the righteous things in everyday life. This daily task is most difficult, if not impossible, while living in the flesh, already corrupted by sins. But God provides a Helper, the Holy Spirit, to guide humans along the difficult journey of obedience.

 

     The complexity of the ways of living life is that these different ways of living may overlap with one another. That is, an individual living by examples may also be living by wants while living by faith. The result is that living life is the tallest order for all.

Stephen Lau