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can’t begin to tell you the number of people who have approached
Marcy and me over the past few years confiding in us that they are
not experiencing the Christ life. They understand the
message of the cross and who they now are in Him, but as far as
everyday practicality, "it’s" just not happening for
them. They have tried to let Christ live His life through them.
They have tried to walk by the Spirit. They have sought to abide
in Christ. And yet they confess that they seem to see little
if any fruit from those intentions and have become disillusioned
and disappointed in both themselves and in God.
A woman stood up in one of our
Bible studies a number of years ago and said, "I am so
frustrated. I think I'm beginning to see that I have been made
right before God through Christ. But now I am supposed to let
Christ live through me in every circumstance of my day and when I
don't, I must be walking after the flesh. I don’t want to walk
after the flesh. I want to walk by faith. I want to walk by the
Spirit. And maybe the most exasperating thing is that most of the
time, I’m not sure if what I’m doing is by the Spirit or out
of my own strength. It’s almost as if I’ve been set free from
the bondage of trying to live by the law so that I can now be in
bondage to making sure I live by the Spirit. I never knew that
walking by faith could be so frustrating!"
Many Christians believe that once
you understand your identity in Christ and learn how to let Christ
live His life through you that you will begin to experience the
abundant life. They say that the struggles and failures that
characterize the Romans 7 experience will begin to diminish and
the fruit of the Spirit will be displayed through you on a more
consistent basis. They say that, in Romans 7, Paul is describing
how it used to be for him before he discovered the secret to
living the Christian life, which is to allow Christ to do it for
you. And once you, like Paul, have made that discovery and begin
to walk by the Spirit, you will emerge out of Romans 7 into a life
that is characterized by actions and deeds that are significantly
more consistent with who you are in Christ.
Perhaps they are right.
Apparently, many who believe that walking by faith means choosing
to allow Christ to live His life through them seem to have
tremendous success. They seem to bear much fruit. But equally as
many, if not more, continue to have great disappointment and
heartache over the lack of evidence that they are experiencing Christ
as life. They too are sincere and yet their behavior does not
seem to change and they wonder why it isn’t working. What do we
say to them? Are they not able to walk by faith? Are they not
doing it right? Or maybe we think walking by faith is something
mysterious and complex when it is really rather very simple? I say
all this not to argue against walking by faith but rather
to offer you another perspective on what it means. Consider the
following…
First, Scripture defines faith as
"the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things
not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). Paul said, "we walk by faith,
not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7). There is something about faith
that discounts what is seen with the physical eyes. It looks past
and beyond observable evidence to the spiritual truth that is
testified to in the word of God. Strangely, faith is convinced, no
matter what the circumstances or evidence declares otherwise, that
the things not seen are what is real - not the things that are.
Secondly, faith, for us,
primarily looks back. For those who awaited the coming of their
Messiah, faith looked forward. The Savior was soon to come. He
would rescue His people. But now, He has done so. He has come, He
has died, He has been buried, He has risen, and He has ascended.
It is finished! Faith now looks back. It rejoices and rests in
actual events in recorded history that have already occurred and
have provided us every spiritual blessing in Christ. Faith is not
a power that makes Jesus do anything. Faith is the conviction that
all power to do anything lies in Him and all that was necessary
for Him to do He has done.
So faith is both the conviction
of things unseen and the looking back in time to the Person and
work it trusts in. Faith looks at our righteous behavior and deeds
(things seen) and knows that they add nothing to our righteousness
before God. But faith also looks at our unrighteous behavior and
deeds (things seen) and knows that they lose nothing of our
righteousness before Him. Why? Because faith says that our
righteousness was never based upon what we did or didn’t do
(things seen). It has always been based upon what He has done
(which we did not see and which was done in the past)! It’s
never been about our obedience. It has always been about His.
Therefore, walking by faith is stubbornly trusting in the
historical death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our
righteousness regardless of what we see in our performance - good
or bad.
Do you think it is possible that
to some degree many of us have made walking by faith into a
legalistic method of once again trying to earn God's acceptance
through works? Do you think that some of us have made the
so-called "exchanged life" into a lifestyle that has
merely exchanged one method of living for another? Have we
"exchanged" the law for the Spirit yet we are still
looking to a method for daily living - one that is simply
characterized by a more lenient type of works for righteousness?
Walking by faith is not about making sure that your actions and
deeds are always a direct result of your choice to let Christ live
life through you. If it is then you are once again in bondage to
whether or not you are doing it right. You are again looking at a
performance-based method for living and still fearful that you
aren't doing it right. It's not about you doing anything right, or
anything consistently or being the most sincere. Walking by faith
is about resting in what He has done by the cross.
When God initially showed us our
need for Christ, He then gave us the faith to believe that He had
justified us, cleansed us, forgiven
us, reconciled us, sanctified us, etc. And all that we trusted in at
that time for salvation had already occurred 2,000 years
previously. We were saved by the faith of Jesus Christ and what He had done,
not what He would do. And now? Well, now we are to continue in the
faith (Col. 2:6). Nothing has changed. We are to continue resting
in, rejoicing in, and walking by faith in the same things His word
revealed to us the day He saved us. He has still justified us
through His obedience, not the method we choose to live life. Your
justification before God has never been and never will be based
upon your performance or how you go about achieving it. We are
justified by His performance.
Friends, please take into
consideration today that walking by faith is not so much making
moment-by-moment conscious choices to let Christ live His life
through you or utilizing any other method for that matter. Walking
by faith is simply living life convinced that no matter what your
behavior looks like, good or bad, your righteousness before God is
based solely upon the finished work of His Son. It is a quiet
confidence of knowing that your actions and deeds do not enter
into the justification equation. Whether you are having a
"good day" behaviorally or a "bad day"
behaviorally, your right standing with God is unaffected. Why?
Because God does not judge us based on what we have done, are
doing, or will do but upon what Christ did almost 2,000 years ago
once and for all. Our righteousness in Christ is no more based
upon our obedience than was our unrighteousness in Adam based upon
our disobedience (Romans 5:18-19).
Won't you consider simplifying
your perspective on what it means to walk by faith? You will not
be disappointed. In fact, maybe for the first time, you will begin
to enjoy the peace, joy, and contentment that has always been
yours in Christ Jesus.
Love,
John
Moneypenny
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