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What is Faith?—Numbers 13:26-14:9
Russ Ramsey
What is faith? Martin Luther said, “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.” John Piper put it this way, “Faith is the act of our soul that turns away from our own insufficiency to the free and all-sufficient resources of God… Faith cannot boast in human goodness or competence or wisdom, because faith focuses on the free, all-supplying grace of God. Whatever goodness faith sees, it sees as the fruit of grace.” But it is Charles Haddon Spurgeon who really, I think, made the statement that summed up the crucial difference faith makes in a life when he said, “Upon a life I did not live, upon a death I did not die, I risk my whole eternity.”
In some circles people talk about not having enough faith. Someone will say, “The reason I didn’t get that promotion was because I did not have enough faith.” Or “The reason this relationship failed was because I didn’t have enough faith in God for Him to bless it.” Some even have the audacity to suggest the common cold or flu only lights upon those who lack the faith to will it away. Does faith really work this way? Luther was so right. Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.
Caleb demonstrates his living, daring confidence in God’s grace through his perspective on what seems hopeless to every one else around him. He says, in effect, “Look, if God is going before us, who can stop Him!!! We have to go.” It turned out to be a far more perilous decision to not take the land—the result was that none of the people, except Joshua and Caleb and their families, entered the Promised Land at all. When you come to a talk on faith, what do you want to hear? Do you want to hear how to make your life run smoother? Is faith a tool we can use to leverage a desire?
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