MOTIVATIONAL FAITH

“... we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

There is something that causes a Christian, and should cause others to want to be Christians, to diligently seek for heavens recognition and that is what Paul is talking about in the noted verse. He begins the discussion concerning unseen things in the last verse of chapter 4 and continues with it in this fifth chapter.

People do things for various reasons. Every effort we put forth is caused by something. We run a race for a trophy. We seek to be the best at games for the praise we get. We do a good job in our profession looking for advancement or salary increases or both. Something motivates us. But what motivates us in our service to God. Nothing we can see. We have a promise -- eternal bliss in heaven. We can neither see nor hear the one making the promise. We cannot see the results of the promise. We have the word of the Master in regard to it. We believe his Word.

This faith in the unseen is closely connected to hope. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it” (Romans 8:24-25). Hope has been defined like this: “a desire with the expectation of receiving.” Eternal life is out yonder in the future. We don’t have it yet. We only have the promise. The other good things we work for are tangible; money or prizes or the adulation of others. But this greatest prize of all is unseen.

So we press on, sometimes suffering the mockery of men. Why do we do it? Because we believe the words of the Master. Peter, by inspiration and authority of the Lord says it is “... an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:4-5). Our faith in God’s promise keeps up going in the right direction.

Read more of motivational faith in Hebrews the eleventh chapter.

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