I have something you should want, but I can’t give it to you. (So don’t ask for it.) I have something you might desire to have, but you can’t take it away from me. (So don’t covet it.) I have something I can share with you, but you still have to get your own. (Now you think I’m stingy!) What I have is something I can help point you toward. I can also help you lay a foundation for it. I can even tell you things which can be added to it. And together we can encourage each other’s. Have you a clue what I’m referring to?
Note what Paul wrote to Christians at Rome where we read. . .
“(11) For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you — (12) that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” (Romans 1:11-12 ESV)
My faith can encourage you and your faith can encourage me, but we both need to develop and possess our own faith. My faith can’t save you and your faith can’t save me. It is a personal faith that must be placed in Jesus Who has made salvation possible by His sacrifice on the cross.
Though I had godly parents, they could not hand me their faith. There were no faith enriched vegetables they could encourage me to eat so that I would have faith. There were no faith supplements that they could give me; no “1-A-Day” for healthy faith. They couldn’t even take me to the hospital to get a faith infusion. They prayed and did whatever else they could for me to see the right type of foundation on which to build my faith. They also lived so I could see a demonstration of what faith is and how it works. However, at some point I had to develop my own faith in order to stand. Though faith was alive in my parents, it had to become alive in me. (not 2 Timothy 1:5) My faith had to come the same way theirs did; by hearing the word of God and acting upon it. (Romans 10:17)
Faith — “Gotta Have It!” For without it we can’t please God! (Hebrews 11:6)
Establish your faith! Nurture your faith! And together, let us continue to encourage each other’s!
Have a FAITH ENRICHED DAY!
Carl
