Articles
Faith is a Decision
I can’t imagine what it was to be Abraham. God called him to a land he did not know. He asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac, the child of promise. I can’t imagine. Can you?
Abraham is held out for us as an example of faith. In fact he is called “father of the faithful.” All who by faith come to God are partakers of a promise given to Him. All who share his faith are his children.
Abraham’s faith was not about God. He knew things about God. His faith was not in the facts. His faith was in God. He made a decision to put all his trust in God, no matter the cost or how high the risk. His faith was not a feeling but a direction.
Conversely, when Eve was tempted by Satan to eat the fruit, who was she going to listen to? What would be her decision? Would she decide to put her faith in God, and have everything or would she decide to follow the direction of Satan, and lose it all? She failed because her faith failed.
So the contest is laid before us. What decision will we make? Where will our faith in God lead us?
We are to love God more than father and mother. There is the decision. Will our faith in God, not about God, move us in that direction?
We are asked to put the kingdom of God first. Yet, that decision may cost us our job. Will our faith in God lead us in that direction?
Again, parents are told, “The rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother” (Prov. 29:15). Here is the test. Who will we listen to? Parents are told today not to discipline their children. That they must be free to express themselves. Yet God tells parents the opposite. Who will we listen to? Will our faith in God lead us to help bring them wisdom? Children left to themselves bring shame and are miserable.
We are called upon to make faith valued decisions everyday. We may not be asked to go to a land we do not know or offer our only son but what is asked of us is no different as a test of our faith. Be like Abraham. Have his faith.
Rickie
