Object or Amount?

Which is more important, the amount of faith you have, or the object of your faith? I would hope you see that it is the object of your faith that is most important. Jesus Christ said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (Jn. 14:6). He didn't say, "I am 'a' way," as though there were 6 or 8 ways to get to heaven. He told us He is to be the object of our faith.

I used to just think that if I believe IN God, that should be enough. No need to deal with my sinfulness or repentance. Then someone showed me that the Bible teaches that "the demons believe in God ... and ... shudder." (Jas. 2:19) There are those who believe that if they grew up in a Christian home, then they too will go to heaven. Well, I might mention that Jesus has no grandchildren. Only children. Being in a Christian home doesn't make you a Christian any more than being in a donut shop makes you a policeman. I finally graduated to the point of thinking I could work my way to heaven, believing that if my good deeds outweighed my bad deeds, surely God would wink at my sin and let me into heaven, right? Someone read Eph. 2:8-9 to me: "For it is by grace you are saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast."

As different individuals kept working with me I realized that I get no credit. I can't save myself. Ephesians 2 teaches that while I was 'dead' in my sin God made me 'alive in Christ.' Dead people don't 'do' anything. Finally it became wonderfully clear to me that the gospel is His story, not mine. That He is the change agent and I will never 'change my way to heaven by my works.' Eventually I realized that I was at one time an enemy of God and that it wasn't until I was at peace WITH God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that I would ever experience the peace OF God which surpasses all comprehension. He is the object of my faith.

Can you come up with a few specifics to put into practice this week? Perhaps one would be in clearing up your own awareness of the gospel and confidence in your eternal destiny. And maybe another could be passing this news on to two other people within one week. Nothing becomes dynamic until it becomes specific.