The goal of this site is to encourage and help others grow in their faith. My Faith began with God and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through hearing the gospel as a young boy.
I have always enjoyed Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, and especially Ephesians 2:1-10, where the gospel is spelled out. Paul gives us a clear description of our spiritual condition in verses 1-3.
“(1) And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, (2) in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. (3) Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
As a young boy, I did not realize the full consequences of my sin, but I knew that it separated me from God, and I wanted that close relationship with Him. When I was about 5, I remember praying with my mother to trust in Jesus Christ as my savior, to ‘receive Him,’ as it says in John 1:12. A couple of years later, I remember realizing more my selfish heart and, in tears, I asked God for forgiveness.
In verses 4 and 5, Paul describes God’s heart of mercy, love, and grace, which He directs towards us.
(4) But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, (5) even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
As I continued to grow in my Christian faith, I learned that I could talk to God about anything. I especially enjoyed praying to Him while outside enjoying His creation. As a young believer, I learned more and more about God’s love, mercy, and grace. Knowing my own heart, I was grateful He loved a sinner like me and humbled that the God of creation even thought of me.
In verses 6 through 10, Paul shows how God works out our salvation by His grace, as a gift and totally apart from any work on our part. The gospel, which is the beginning of my faith, is a work of God, unearned and undeserved by me. I am saved through faith, and that faith is a gift from God through Christ.
(6) and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (7) so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (8) For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (9) not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
As I read verse 6, “and raised us up with Him,” I’m reminded of Romans 1:4 where Paul writes to the Roman believers, “who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.” The bodily resurrection of Christ gives us the greatest evidence that He was God and the perfect sacrifice to take our place and purchase our salvation, our eternal life. Jesus then appeared to His disciples, who believed so deeply in Him that they were willing to die for their faith. Then, Jesus Christ appeared to more than five hundred ‘brethren‘ who witnessed His resurrected body.
Every day I come to God to acknowledge my sin and my selfish heart, and every day I am amazed that He loves me and extends His mercy and grace to me. His lovingkindnesses and compassion indeed never fail. “They are new every morning.“
The gospel was previewed in the Old Testament in Isaiah 53:3-7. Verse 6 pictures how Christ went to the cross on our behalf: “All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him,” speaking of Christ.
Faith begins with placing one’s trust in Christ to save us, because we can’t save ourselves. When I realize that I am separated from God because of my sin and I no longer trust in my own abilities or good works to save me, but trust in Christ who died in my place, I am saved, and my faith has begun and now grows. Hebrews 12:2 writes that Christ is the author and perfecter of faith. Peter also speaks of this in 2 Peter 1:1, “To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
For me, this study of faith began with Christ saving me as a young boy. It continues as I seek to grow in my faith, to understand how to live by faith each day, and how that faith grows. Over the past few years, I have begun each day by meditating on Hebrews 11 and have seen how these ‘witnesses’ have exemplified for me what it means to walk by faith.
In Hebrews 11:6, I read, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” But this verse has a context. It follows the author of Hebrews, taking us to the story of Enoch in the previous verse. “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up, for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up, he was pleasing to God.”
I want to please God. I desire to grow in my faith and walk with God as Enoch did. We live in a world that works hard every day to grab our attention; to convince us we need something else to give us satisfaction, or to make more money to buy what will provide us with happiness or excitement, or to change something in our lives because we are inferior or inadequate to be considered successful.
We also live in a world that tells us we receive anything in this life as a result of our own efforts. We like to pat one another on the back and say, “Great job, you deserve what you earned by your hard work.” I grew up believing that if I wanted to be successful and gain in this life, I needed to work hard. There is a place for a good work ethic, but not when it comes to the gospel. On my own, I cannot be pleasing to God, for my sin separates me from any relationship with God. I am now pleasing to God only because of His mercy and grace. His mercy looks past my sin, and because I have trusted in Christ, God now sees Christ’s righteousness. His grace speaks of how freely He blesses me and bestows on me His goodness.
As a saved believer, I now seek to please God, not to earn my salvation, which was bought by Christ’s blood, but in response, with a grateful heart. As His Child, I please God by believing all He has said about Himself in His word, believing all He has said about me, and seeking Him by looking for every opportunity to be closer to Him.
I believe walking closer to God through faith in Christ provides the best opportunity for happiness and satisfaction. I agree with the Psalmist in Psalm 73:28, “But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works.” My hope and prayer is that through this website, we will grow near to God, and as we draw near to Him, we will see Him draw near to us.