PUTTING ON CHRIST "And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts." (Romans 13:11-14, NKJV) Devotion 5 of 33 This is not an incidental matter. Faith is NEVER taken for granted in the believer. There is a fight associated with keeping the faith. We are admonished, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life" (1 Tim 6:12). The young man told to do this is described as Paul's "own son IN THE FAITH" (1 Tim 1:2). Of him Paul said to the brethren at Philippi, "For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state" (Philippians 2:20). Yet, even in this extraordinary young man, faith was not taken for granted. FAITH IS NOT PASSIVE Faith is never represented as a passive possession, maintained without any effort on the part of the ones possessing it. Faith is much like a tender living treasure. It must be cared for with diligence. It must be fed, nourished, and caused to grow and increase. If this does not happen, faith will die. It cannot exist without nourishment, but "lives by every word of God" (Lk 4:4). This is the appointed means through which the child of God is justified and sustained. It simply is not possible to be cleared from guilt and receive God's righteousness apart from faith. Neither can those conditions be maintained apart from faith – and they must be maintained. What you have from God, you have by your faith. Thus it is written, "The just shall LIVE by faith" (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38). Habakkuk says the just one lives by "HIS faith" (Hab 2:14). – Tomorrow:
It is believers who are admonished, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you; unless indeed you are disqualified" (2 Corinthians 13:5, NKJV). Those who were so admonished are described as "the church of God at Corinth . . . and all the saints which are in all Achaia" (2 Cor 1:1). Yet, their faith was not taken for granted.
Rather than faith being automatic, those who believe are reminded, "Now the just SHALL live by faith: but if any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him" (Heb 10:38). It is those who have believed that can "draw back," not those who have never believed. These same believers were also admonished, "Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of YOU an evil heart of unbelief, in DEPARTING FROM THE LIVING GOD" (Heb 3:12). Their faith was not taken for granted.
Men have made "shipwreck" of faith, putting away a good conscience (1 Tim 1:19). You surely cannot wreck a ship you do not possess! Jesus spoke of those who "FOR A WHILE believe, and in time of temptation fall away" (Lk 8:13). Jesus did not say they did not really believe in the first place. He described these people as those who "receive the Word with joy." Yet, because they "have no root" fall away in the time of temptation. Also, the Holy Spirit "expressly" spoke of some who "shall depart from the faith" (1 Tim 4:1). Their faith was not taken for granted.
Faith, which is the appointed means through which grace comes to us (Eph 2:8), is not to assumed. We are to "CONTINUE in the faith" (Acts 14:22), be "ESTABLISHED in the faith" (Acts 16:5), and "STAN FAST in the faith" (1 Cor 16:13). Categorically we are told we will be presented to the Lord "holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: IF ye continue in the faith grounded and settled" (Col 1:23). The only way to overcome the devil is to resist him by being "steadfast in the faith" (1 Pet 5:8-9). Of course, if faith automatically continues in all who receive it, such admonitions are needless.
Some, unwilling to accept the fact that some do stop believing, thus departing from Divine favor, say that such people never really believed in the first place. Or, as some would say it, "They never were really saved." Ponder the implications of this deplorably shallow and untenable view. If it is true, it would mean Adam and Eve were never really in the garden of Eden. It would mean the Israelites that fell in the wilderness never really came out of Egypt, and never really crossed the Red Sea. The angels who fell, not keeping the "first estate," really never had an estate in the first place. The devil, whom Jesus saw fall from heaven, never was in heaven at all. Judas, who "fell by transgression," never really had part in the ministry at all.
If it is true that you can never fall out of Divine favor once you are in it, then Adam and Eve were never really in God's favor. Israel really came out of Egypt on their own, and crossed the Red Sea in pretension – even though the Spirit says they did it "by faith" (Heb 11:29). Such postulates betray a level of ignorance that can in no way be justified. It also confirms the tenacious hold empty religious tradition can have on a person.
Salvation is always promised to those who ARE believing, and never to those who are NOT believing. There is such a consistency in this throughout Scripture that it requires obstinance and spiritual blindness to fail to perceive it.
The admonition to "put on Christ" requires the acceptance of these clear proclamations. If the person who has believed assumes he is locked into a saved state, independently of what he does, there is, in fact, no need to "put on Christ." Those who hold to such a position will be held in strict account by the God who extended Himself to be sure such postulates were not embraced.
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, help me never to take my faith for granted, but nourish it, contend for it, keep it, and fight to maintain it.