LEARNING DAILY

 

Hebrews 11:6, But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

 

Its time to do a faith checkup. You know followers of Christ need to do that once in a while! Is anything happening around you that is causing you to have any doubts about things you might be doing, or your relationship with the Lord? Here is what Tony Dungy writes in his devotional, Uncommon Life, “Doubt always seems to stick its destructive head into all we are trying to do. That’s where faith comes in. Faith isn’t the absence of doubt, but it reaches beyond doubt and toward that which we believe to be true.” He also uses Hebrews 11:1 to support this. “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us the assurance about things we cannot see” (from the New Living Translation).

 

Saving faith comes because a person believes that God is who He says He is. A person is saved from His life of sin because he places his faith in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. A person then begins to change inwardly because he reads, studies God’s Word and it begins to change him from inside out. The notes in the LSSB state, “This verse describes the convictions that are a part of saving grace. (1) We must believe in the existence of a personal, infinite, holy God who cares for us. (2) We must believe that He will reward us when we earnestly seek Him, knowing that our greatest reward is the joy of finding Him and enjoying His presence forever.”

 

Notice that a person must have faith to “please Him”. Think about that for a moment and relate that statement to our faith checkup. There is a lot happening around the world and this nation specifically that might be causing the question to be asked, “Where is God in all of this?” At least the world might be trying to plant this thought in the mind of Believers. That is doubt. It is the same thing the serpent did when he planted doubt in the mind of Adam and Eve. Remember he asked the question, “Did God really say…?” If Dungy’s statement above is relevant, we need to reach beyond the doubts being suggested about God’s active involvement in the affairs around us and remember that God is on His throne and in control of all things. To “please Him” you and I must be diligently (actively) seeking Him and His will for our lives each and every day! Here is the reward. When we diligently seek Him, doubts we may have, disappear and our confidence, our faith in Him is rewarded.

 

My wife mentioned the other day how amazing it was that a big, heavy airplane could get off the ground, stay in the air, and land again. People still get on the plane. Sure, there is all the scientific stuff that explains how this all happens. Still, people get on in faith that the plane will fly.

 

I am going to do all I can to believe “God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him”. I do that with all the faith I have. I find that to be a wonderful promise in the midst of what is happening in this nation and around the world. Keep looking up! Continue to be ready, watching and listening for the trumpet to sound calling us home!

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.  I have added Jimmy Swaggart’s Expositor’s Study Bible to be referred to from now on as JSESB.