We talk about faith a lot. Having it. Keeping it. Losing it. People of it.
So when the Bible speaks about faith, we aren’t surprised. Much of the Old and New Testaments are preoccupied with the quality and content of the faith of Israel and the Church. What provokes the people to have faith in God? Why do they lose that faith? Questions of morality, law, economics, idolatry, national security, health and healing, infertility, relationships to those who aren’t worshippers of God, and more are all revealed to be faith matters.
But the Bible also talks about the quality and content of God’s faith: better, God’s faithfulness. Only one character in the story of Israel keeps faith and that is God. God’s faithfulness is what motivates both the Gospels and the story of the Church in the Epistles: faithfulness to God’s people — Israelite and Gentile alike — faithfulness in the coming of Jesus Christ, and the faithfulness of Jesus to his mission.
The story of faith, then, is not so much about us: whether we are partially successful or mostly failing or generally ambiguous. It is about our relationship to the One who is completely faithful. The challenge for all of us is to grow in the image of the God who created us, in faithfulness, loyalty, trust, and love!
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith for ever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.Psalm 146:5-7 (NRSV)
Grace and Peace,
Josh+
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