By Yomi OGUNTUWASE
Faith Rests in what Christ did, not what you do. True faith is not blind. It knows the reason for its dependence and it acts upon it.
I do not suppose the limpet knows much about the rock to which it clings; yet as faith grows, it becomes more and more intelligent. Faith begins with dependence and matures into understanding.
A blind man trusts himself to his guide because he knows his friend can see. Trusting this, he walks wherever the guide leads him. If the poor man was born blind, he does not know what sight is but he knows that such a thing exists, and that his friend possesses it. Therefore, he freely places his hand in the hand of the one who sees and follows his leadership.
That is trust. That is faith. They are two sides of the same coin.
Faith Is a Daily Human Practice
Every boy who goes to school must exercise faith while learning. His teacher teaches him geography, the shape of the earth, the existence of great cities and empires. The boy does not know these things firsthand. He believes them because he trusts his teacher and the books placed in his hands.
Almost everything you and I know has come to us by faith. A scientific discovery is announced, and we are sure of it. On what grounds do we believe it? Because we trust those who have the knowledge.
This is precisely what you must do with Christ if you are to be saved. You must know because He tells you, believe because He assures you it is so, and trust yourself to Him because He promises that salvation will be the result.
Faith Illustrated: Trusting a Physician
Another illustration of trust may be seen in the wife of an eminent physician. She is struck down by a dangerous illness, yet she remains calm and untroubled. Why? Because her husband has made this disease his special study and has healed thousands afflicted in the same way.
She feels perfectly safe in the hands of one who is dear to her, one in whom skill and love are united in their highest forms. Her faith is reasonable and natural; from every point of view, her husband deserves her trust.
This is the kind of faith the happiest believers exercise toward Christ. There is no physician like Him. None can save as He can. We love Him, and He loves us; therefore, we put ourselves into His hands, accept whatever He prescribes, and do whatever He bids. We know that nothing can be wrongly ordered while He directs our affairs, for He loves us too well to let us perish or to suffer a single needless pang.
Faith Illustrated: Trust Without Sight
Consider the faith of the master mariner. He loses his cable and steams away from land. For days, weeks, even months, he sees neither sail nor shore. Yet he proceeds day and night without fear until one morning he finds himself precisely opposite the desired haven.
How has he found his way across the trackless deep? He has trusted his compass, his nautical almanac, his glass, and the heavenly bodies. Obeying their guidance without sighting land he has steered so accurately that he enters the port without changing a point.
This is trust: sailing without sight.
Faith in Everyday Life
The farmer buries good seed in the earth and expects it not only to live but to multiply. He has faith in the covenant arrangement that “seedtime and harvest shall not cease,” and his faith is rewarded.
The merchant places his money in the care of a banker and rests easy, trusting the honesty and soundness of the bank. He entrusts his wealth to another’s hands and feels safer than if the gold were locked in an iron safe.
The sailor trusts himself to the sea. When he swims, he lifts his feet from the bottom and casts himself upon the water. He could not swim without fully relying on its buoyancy.
The goldsmith places precious metal into a fire that seems eager to consume it, yet he receives it back purified by the heat.
You cannot look anywhere in life without seeing faith in operation between man and man, or between man and natural law. Just as we trust in daily life, so we are to trust in God.
Faith as Clinging to Christ
Sometimes faith is little more than a simple clinging to Christ a sense of dependence and a willingness to rely entirely on what He has done, not on what you do.
At the seaside, you may see limpets clinging to the rock. Approach softly and strike one suddenly with your stick, and it will come off. Try the next limpet the same way. He has been warned. He heard the blow that struck his neighbor, and now he clings with all his strength. Strike again and again you will never remove him. You may as well try to break the rock itself.
The limpet does not know much, but he clings. He does not understand the geological formation of the rock, but he clings. He can cling, and he has found something to cling to. That is all his knowledge, and he uses it for his safety and survival.
It is the limpet’s life to cling to the rock, and it is the sinner’s life to cling to and trust in what Christ has done. Clinging signifies reliance. Reliance signifies trust.
“We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort.”
-Philippians 3:3
And again:
“I have discarded everything else… all else is garbage.”
Philippians 3:8
You must discard everything you rely on as a means of going to heaven. So far, you have advanced toward faith but one final ingredient is required to complete it: trust.
Trust is the lifeblood of faith. There is no saving faith without it.
The Puritans described faith with the word recumbency leaning fully upon something. Lean with all your weight upon what Christ did for you on the cross, not upon what you have done. Better still: fall at full length and lie upon the Rock of Ages.
“It is done.”
Revelation 21:6
What Christ did on Calvary is finished. I rely on it. I depend on it. The sacrifice has been truly accepted by God on your behalf. God cannot accept the sacrifice on your behalf and then still crush you otherwise, why the sacrifice at all?
Peace With God
This is what my senior brother understood fully before he passed away:
“We have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”
Romans 5:1 And that is faith: knowing the reason for dependence and acting upon it by trusting only, wholly and entirely in Christ alone.
