Without faith it is impossible to
please Him… —Hebrews 11:6
Faith in active opposition to common sense is
mistaken enthusiasm and narrow-mindedness, and common sense in opposition to
faith demonstrates a mistaken reliance on reason as the basis for truth. The
life of faith brings the two of these into the proper relationship. Common
sense and faith are as different from each other as the natural life is from
the spiritual, and as impulsiveness is from inspiration. Nothing that Jesus
Christ ever said is common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete,
whereas common sense falls short. Yet faith must be tested and tried before it
becomes real in your life. “We know that all things work together for good…” (Romans
8:28) so that no matter what happens, the transforming power of God’s
providence transforms perfect faith into reality. Faith always works in a
personal way, because the purpose of God is to see that perfect faith is made
real in His children.
For every detail of common sense in life,
there is a truth God has revealed by which we can prove in our practical
experience what we believe God to be. Faith is a tremendously active principle
that always puts Jesus Christ first. The life of faith says, “Lord, You have
said it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly,
trusting in Your Word” (for example, see Matthew 6:33). Turning
intellectual faith into our personal possession is always a
fight, not just sometimes. God brings us into particular circumstances to
educate our faith, because the nature of faith is to make the object of our
faith very real to us. Until we know Jesus, God is merely a concept, and we
can’t have faith in Him. But once we hear Jesus say, “He who has seen Me has
seen the Father” (John 14:9) we immediately have something that is real, and
our faith is limitless. Faith is the entire person in the right relationship
with God through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
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