Trust in Faithfulness - 3/12/06

Galatians 3:6, "...Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham's faith, and that faith made him right with God." (Quoted here from Genesis 15:6)
Galatians 3:11, "...Those who are right with God will live by trusting Him." (Quoted here from Habakkuk 2:4)
Galatians 3:3, "You began your life in Christ by the spirit. Now are you trying to make it complete by your own power? That is foolish."

As a practicing Christian I believe God, and know He has accepted my faith to make me right with Him. This is a gift offered to me through the price His son paid; I have faith in Jesus who died for my sins - in my place. That faith has reconciled me with the one holy Creator of all things.

Therefore, according to this scripture and countless others, I must live by trusting in Him. Given the price He paid, I cannot live for myself anymore. I am called now to be His hands and feet with all other Christians, doing His work here before we're blessed with eternity in His presence.

I must be careful always though not to take back the control of my life that I've given to the only one who deserves that control. The first of these scriptures sets the model for faith leading to a right relationship with God. The second scripture commands how I should live my life after being right with God - by trusting in Him. The third scripture warns against the foolishness of trying to use my own power to complete my life.

There is no reason not to trust Him; no reason to take back control when I can't see the whole picture. "...In Christ, God has given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world." Ephesians 1:3. He's given us everything. What's more, "Because of His love, God had already decided to make us his own children through Jesus Christ." Ephesians 1:5. We have been given everything in the spiritual realm. Then as his children, why wouldn't he give us everything we need in the earthly realm?

Sadly, I don't believe He could give us everything in the material sense and still trust us to keep him as the center of our lives. If we have control over all the material things we desire, we would feel mighty important and focus our attention on things rather than God. But He will give his children everything according to their need.

Going back to Galatians 3:11 then, we must live daily trusting that He will provide. In my case, I don't know where I will live or work in five months. But God led me tonight to the scripture James 4:13-15, "Some of you say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money.' But you do not know what will happen tomorrow. Your life is like a mist. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away. So you should say, 'If the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that.'" Again ... I must trust the God of All, in all things...