Devotion 3 – Faith is not Blindness & Foolishness
Devotion 3 – Faith is not Blindness & Foolishness
2 Cor.5:7 – “For we walk
by faith, not by sight.”
The difference between biblical faith and blind faith is
simple. Biblical faith is believing in the Word of God even though the evidence
of it is not yet seen. Blind faith is believing in something without any ground
of evidence, or even conflicting evidence which is against our reasoning. Thus,
if our faith is not justified by the Word of God, we are exercising “blind
faith”.
The above verse is
not encouraging us to walk blindly by faith, but rather, to be mindful of the
promises of God in His Word and to be conscious that this world is not our home;
we have an ultimate destiny in heaven. Paul is encouraging us not be discouraged
by the disappointments, pain, trials and tribulation we suffer while on this
earth.
2 Cor. 4:7-10 – “But we have this
treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the
power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed
on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed,
but not in despair; persecuted, but
not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed - always
carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of
Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”
2 Cor.5:1-6 – “For we know that
if our earthly house, this tent,
is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan,
earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from
heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found
naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened,
not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality
may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us
for this very thing is God, who also has given us
the Spirit as a guarantee. So, we are always
confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from
the Lord.”
Thus, when Paul instructs against “walking by sight”, he is encouraging us to courageously walk
by faith without any tangible evidence, and not to base our faith on our physical
experiences in this world. For if we walk by sight, we can easily be crushed,
feel forsaken and even driven to despair. Paul is reminding us to adopt another
way of living – by faith. By
faith, we have the assurance of the resurrection and we know that God has
prepared a new body for us eternally.
Walking by Faith
In the light of this understanding,
walking by faith is walking with eternity in mind. By faith, we are mindful and
thus empowered not to ‘lost heart’ in spite of
the trials we go through. We find courage to endure all the sufferings of this
earthly life.
2 Cor.4:16-18 – “Therefore we do
not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the
inward man is being renewed day by day. For our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not
look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For
the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which
are not seen are eternal.”
Faith that is not grounded in the Word of
God is not saving faith or kingdom faith. If we operate in faith outside the
boundaries of God’s Word, that is merely belief. Sadly, many children of God
has mistaken belief with faith, this is presumptuous faith or “blind faith”.
Faith includes confidence but confidence does not necessary includes faith.
Faith is like a light bulb; it has no power in itself. The light bulb only
shines when connected with the power source. Likewise, our faith is useless if
it is not connected to the word of God. So, do not merely place faith in “our
faith”.
Faith
Is Taking God at His Word
Matt.24:35 – “Heaven and earth
will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”
1 Pet.1:24-25 – “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of
the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
Everything in life may
change, but God’s Word remains constant, His truth never changes. This means
that no matter how we feel or experience, we can choose to depend on the Word
of God as the unchanging reality of our life.
In our journey on this earth,
there are be time we felt afraid or lonely or depressed. Our heart may ache in
anguish over circumstances of life, and in those moments, we may be most
tempted to doubt the truth of God’s Word. It is in those moments that we must
not walk by sight but by faith. We may feel, and the feeling is so real…but
always remember, His Word says…
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