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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