What else besides Faith?

Let's look at this from God's point of view. We would not be abusing our privileges as co-heirs with Christ to view living by Faith from His perspective. We are after-all, sons of God. We are made in His image, His Spirit lives within us, and we have the mind of Christ. Surely, we are well within our rights to look at something as if we were sitting on the throne. Not usurping the throne, just looking at something from there.

From God's throne, Faith, looks like the only viable method for accomplishing His goal. What's His goal? Well, to save us all from hell. To bring us all into eternal and splendid fellowship. To set us free from the curse of sin and death. To undo the tragedy that happened in the Garden of Eden. The most expedient and painless path to that destination would be for God to just suspend all justice. If God's only goal is to ensure all of His children receive Heaven, He could easily forget the sin debt altogether for everyone without condition. He is God after all, He is bound by nothing. He could eradicate His own laws and allow everyone entry into Heaven without exception. If that is what He decided to do, there is no power anywhere that could successfully rebel against Him. However, that would not suffice. That would essentially grant Satan the throne he tried to usurp. That would be letting Satan decide who gets to go to Heaven. Think about that for a moment.

Think about an eternity where Satan sits on the throne. This brief vapor we call "life" is hard enough with just his influence being felt. Can you imagine how horrifying an eternity would be if he actually had power?! That would NOT be Heaven. That would be Hell, in fact, worse than Hell. So, just forgetting the laws of Righteousness and granting everyone amnesty is not a viable solution. But God has devised a way for any of His children to lay hold of the life He intended for them. But that way is the ONLY way and no amount of negotiating, or tinkering, or bargaining on our part is going to work the same. We must embrace this method. We must live a life of Faith to achieve the life He has made available to us.

Only a person who has lived the life of faith will be fit for eternal life in Heaven. Only living by faith will equip us to endure an eternity in God's presence. If you are a person of faith, you will be courageous from all those trials that you endured. You'll be loving because of the Nature of God will abide in you, savvy because the Wisdom that taught Solomon would rest on you. You'll also be diligent because of all the time you spent studying and memorizing scriptures. All these attributes are necessary for people to have if they are going to rule and reign throughout eternity. Likewise, only people like this will draw more people into fellowship with God.

Can God use such a person as this? Can He use brave, loving, smart, hard-working people? Does He have any use for their opposite? Is there a purpose of the Kingdom that can be served by cowardly, self-centered, flaky, bums? Not a one. Living a life of Faith is the only method that will transform us from the people we were when we got saved to the people we need to be. Only living a life of Faith will perform the transformation and develop the kind of people God can use.

This should help us have the right attitude about the next trial we face. Notice I said "the next trial we WILL face." Without a doubt, there is another trial coming our way. It will either build our character or reveal it. And unless we want to face it more than once, we should make up our minds ahead of time to pass it by enduring it with Faith.

We need to keep the larger goal in mind. Let us be ever mindful of the fact that "Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body." Let us be prepared for every trial with understanding that we are subjecting ourselves to God's rule and keeping our promise to SERVE Him. In His perfect wisdom, He has declared that living a life of Faith is how we will become the people He desires us to be. So, as life unfolds before us, let's be ever mindful to let every decision be directed by a willingness to allow Faith to do it's work in us.

This is the process described in 2 Peter.

2Pe 1:4 In this way he has given us the very great and precious gifts he promised, so that by means of these gifts you may escape from the destructive lust that is in the world, and may come to share the divine nature.
2Pe 1:5 For this very reason do your best to add goodness to your faith; to your goodness add knowledge;
2Pe 1:6 to your knowledge add self-control; to your self-control add endurance; to your endurance add godliness;
2Pe 1:7 to your godliness add Christian affection; and to your Christian affection add love.
2Pe 1:8 These are the qualities you need, and if you have them in abundance, they will make you active and effective in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the life we signed up for when we accepted his free gift of salvation. Let's embrace it and enjoy every minute of it.