Faith is like the fruit of a tree that has been grafted into us. It is a gift from God, an impartation, and then also it is a fruit of the the Spirit that works in us and out of us.
"For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake" Phil 1:29 NKJV
"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." 1 Cor 13:13
"...I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me..." Gal 2:20b
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." Gal 5:22-23
We don't have faith apart from Him. We didn't have it until He came. Before His appearance we were faithless. Now we live in it and it lives in us. Faith was 'granted on behalf of Christ.' His faith is the faith we live by and live in. Like a wild fragrant olive branch being grafted into a domestic tree and becoming one new plant... Heaven grafted a branch that believes into us. A branch that produces all the varied fruits of love.
At the same time we are like the branches of a vine. The vine is Christ and we are mindful that we live in our vine. Cut off from that reality in our minds we will wither away in our experience.
Both the root and the fruit are in Christ and of Christ. The root, the fruit and everything else in-between belong to Him.
It is a comfort to me that I don't have to do it. To make myself believe. To convince myself of something that somehow goes against my judgement. God isn't selling me something. He is giving me something. Something that goes deep into who I am and alters my perception. The sap flowing in me is life not sourced in me but is flowing none the less and it is feeding my sensibilities.
When the Spirit makes His home in us then faith, hope and love come to stay and they beautify a once bleak and cluttered space.
My blind eyes have been opened to new options. Christ is here and my days of wandering are over. Now I follow... now I move with purpose. It is what He is doing that matters. It is what He has done that makes me marvel. I want to be with Him and go to the next place to see what He will do there.
Yesterday's faith is like a fruit plucked from me. But more fruit is growing in me. More fruit is ripening and getting ready to be harvested.
We are not what we were or who we will be. Right now we are believers. Right now faith possesses us and we possess Him. It is Jesus... always Jesus.
Very rich...
ReplyDelete"Cut off from that reality in our minds we will wither away in our experience".
"When the Spirit makes His home in us then faith, hope and love come to stay and they beautify a once bleak and cluttered space."
"My blind eyes have been opened to new options. Christ is here and my days of wandering are over. Now I follow... now I move with purpose".
Thank you.