Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Greetings, dear ones.

Whew! We’re actually about ready to pull out and head up to near South Bend on the south Washington coast. I need to commence my mill job tomorrow at 8am. I’m not even taking my computer…so I’ll be silent for a few days.

Blessings. Love, Dad/Ray.

I’m becoming more and more convinced with time and experience that one of the most important questions to ask and answer in the course of life is this: “WHO ARE YOU GOING TO BELIEVE?” Indeed, we are surrounded with a virtual cacophony of truth claims. Trying to sort through them all can drive a person loony. (We’re surrounded with “loonies” too.) You can probably tell how I choose to answer that core question. Besides my belief that the Bible is TRUE, I am thankful to have a belief that is bigger than my opinion. Quite honestly, I don’t fully trust me.

We have already established that BELIEF is the hinge on which FAITH turns. That idea is underscored here again in verse 3 when Paul quotes, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Let’s now liken BELIEF to a valve through which FAITH flows—controlling its release and volume. The ideal is to keep that valve open all the time—not part time—not “wavering” by the winds of feeling and circumstance.

Consider a familiar scripture promise like John 1:12 and 13: “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…born of God.” It only makes sense that a person will only embrace a “truth” that they BELIEVE in—that they BELIEVE to be TRUE—which, of course, will have a profound controlling effect on behavior. If not, a person’s faith claims, no matter how sensational and convincing they may sound, are as phony as a pile of three-dollar bills. It’s not really Biblical BELIEF. But the response of real heart-level BELIEF opens the valve of FAITH so as to fulfill the purpose of that TRUTH—releasing divine power beyond what a person can do on their own—releasing divine revelation beyond what a person can know on their own.

Let’s join verse 20 with verse 21as it offers a great description and basis for Abraham’s exemplary FAITH. “Yet he did not waver through unbelief (which closes the valve of FAITH) regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened (the flow was increased) in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” I’m thinking that the phrase, “BEING FULLY PERSUADED,” is a simple description of the quality of BELIEF that allows one to pull off the works of FAITH.

Be reminded that we are required to be faithful—faith-FULL—or full of FAITH. I have to conclude that if I will simply keep BELIEVING that God’s TRUTH is true, I will be blessed with a very adequate measure of effective FAITH. It’s simply the LAW—“the law of the Spirit of life through Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1-2).