FAITH AND LOVE
When we think of what it means to follow Jesus and be His disciples, we should remember that what matters is “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). We often recall that faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). That is certainly true, but it is equally true that faith comes by loving God. If we love God, we will respect Him enough to remember that He is worthy of trust. He loves us (Psalm 86:15). He keeps His word (Deuteronomy 7:9). He never lies (Numbers 23:19; Titus 1:2). He is a God that is wonderful, marvelous, and holy and He will never let us down (Hebrews 13:5).
We are called to follow Christ in daily surrender, yielding our will to His (Luke 9:23). He speaks and we obey. He calls and we answer. He leads and we follow. We consider how much He loves us and how much He has sacrificed for us, and we give ourselves to Him—our very lives (Romans 12:1). We make it our only aim to be well-pleasing to Him because we have faith in Him and who He is (2 Corinthians 5:9). We love Him, though we have not seen Him yet (1 Peter 1:8). And the reason we do is because we “see” Him through the eye of faith (2 Corinthians 5:7). He is the author and finisher of our faith, and therefore we keep our eyes fixed on Him (Hebrews 12:2).
The love of Christ compels us to share our faith and to do the works that are worthy of the name of Christ. We are willing to suffer as Christians (Philippians 1:29). We are willing to do whatever He ordains that we do and go through whatever He thinks is good. Why? Because we trust Him. We know that He loves us. He has proven His love for us once for all by dying on the cross for our sins (Romans 5:8). There is no power greater than the power of Christ’s love.
In giving ourselves to Him, in following Him in discipleship, we show our love for Him. He proved His love by sacrifice—His sacrifice at the cross. And we show our love for Him by sacrifice—that of giving our hearts and lives to Him. We offer our bodies as living sacrifices to Jesus, living everyday of our lives in commitment to Him. Faith in His power and His plan causes us to do that. Faith and love go together.
Dewayne Dunaway
