APR 9

Hebrews 11:6
Memorise Hebrews 11:6
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him…”

When a teen who is seeking salvation approaches me, sometimes the concern that the teen has is: how do I know if the Bible is true? Rather than bring up all the evidences for this, I usually encourage the teen to take time to read the gospel of Luke. One such teen called me up 3 months later to say that on completion of the reading, she had no doubt that it was truly God’s Word, and she had just accepted Christ as her Lord and Saviour.

Hebrews 11:6 says “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”. If we want to come to God, we must believe that He exists. We need to have such a faith, because we cannot visibly see Him. Bear in mind that Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as the evidence of things unseen: thus even though we do not see Him, we must believe in Him in the same way as if He were physically discernible. Christ is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), and will thus give faith to the elect. The teen who read the gospel of Luke realised by faith that these are the very words of her Lord, as John 10:27 says “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me”, and she obeyed her Master’s call to be saved.

After we are saved, that same faith must be present if we want to come to Him. We must walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), which means we must continually look to God’s Word for His instruction. Though the visible world may try to discredit the Bible and our own fleshly nature tries to draw us away with visible pleasures around, may we by the same faith that saved us continue to believe that we owe our lives now to Him who has saved us from sin. Though we see Him not, yet we have faith that one day we will and He will reward all that live by faith. In the meantime we must live believing that He is always here, desiring for us to seek Him.

Thought: Am I drawn away from God by the enticing things that I see?
Prayer: Lord, may I learn to live by faith and not by sight!