Live by Faith

 

"As long as man hovers within the safety of his sight and his visible resources, relatively little will be accomplished."

— Arthur Harrington, What The Bible Says About Leadership

For much of my life I have struggled with my purpose. I have felt like a team of trained monkeys could do what I do.

I don’t possess any superstar qualities that make me stand out from the crowd. While I have certain talents, none of them are unique to me—nothing that others don’t share. My talents are common and ordinary. When the world looks at me, I’m just one among the masses of everyday people.

When I evaluate my abilities, it becomes clear that I’m not likely to make a significant impact on a large number of people. I don’t have the skill set or the influence to make a huge difference in the world. Thinking like this ensures that I *won’t* make a lasting impact. When we only do the things we feel confident in or limit ourselves to what we think our resources will allow, we achieve very little.

The problem isn’t a lack of self-esteem; it’s a lack of faith.

Living by faith means understanding that it’s not about our talents or resources—it’s about God’s power working through us. Stepping out to do God’s will, even when we lack the skills and resources, gives God the opportunity to work through us in ways we can’t predict or imagine.

That doesn't mean every step of faith will result in what we consider a "success." Sometimes, even when we’re confident we’re doing God’s will, things don’t turn out the way we hoped. I can recall several times when I stepped out in faith, knowing I was following God’s direction, only to see things unfold in ways I didn’t expect. What we see as failure doesn’t mean God’s will wasn’t accomplished. It just means God’s agenda is different from ours.

The early church in Acts provides an incredible example of what living by faith looks like:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

— Acts 2:42-47 (CSB)

These early Christians were just like us. They didn’t have exceptional resources or talents. What they did have, they offered to God. They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need. Instead of focusing on what they lacked, they concentrated on how God wanted them to live, trusting Him to provide for their needs.

Living by faith means focusing on God’s will, not on our limitations. It requires us to understand that if we are doing God’s will, He will provide what’s needed to accomplish the task. If we wait until we have the resources or the skills before taking action, we’ll miss out on seeing God work through us to make an impact in this world.

Let’s not hesitate to take that step of faith. God doesn’t ask us to wait until we’re fully equipped—He calls us to trust Him, knowing He will equip us along the way.

Our Responsibility

Followers of Jesus are called to be be ambassadors and missionaries to the world. We are to represent God in this world.

As much as we would like to, we cannot escape from that responsibility. It is woven into the fabric of what it means to be a Christian. 

It is a huge and important calling to be sure and most of the time, if we are honest with ourselves, we feel inadequate for the task. We lack the resources, the talents, and the opportunities we think are necessary to bring God's message of hope and love to the world.

We feel inadequate, not only for the things we lack, but also for what we have: sin. 

Sin makes it impossible for me to properly represent God. That is one of the things the Apostle Paul was getting at when he wrote: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 2:23; ESV). 

The presence of sin my life makes me inadequate because sin distorts the image of God in my life. 

This is compounded by our lack of knowledge about the world, the Bible, and the circumstances of other people's lives. 

So let us pause at this point and confess that we are inadequate for the task for making disciples.

To this reality of being inadequate, let me add two important truths.

The first truth is that citizenship into God's Kingdom begins with being "poor in Spirit." Jesus started the Sermon on the Mount with this line; "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3; ESV). 

 To be a follower of Jesus requires the realization that we don't have what it takes to truly represent God and demonstrate His character in this world. We need to depend on God to provide us with everything that we need; from our daily bread, to patience for helping difficult people, to the words to say to those who are searching for truth.


The second truth is to be true to who God created us to be. The Apostle Paul wrote:

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:3-8, ESV)

We need to come to terms with how God created us, to be grateful for the talents and abilities that we have, and then use those skills in building for God's kingdom. It is by using our unique set of talents for God's Kingdom empowers us to make a difference in this world.

Remembering these things is important because the only person we have control over is ourselves.

While God has given us the responsibility to take His message of love and hope into the world and make disciples; He has not given us responsibility to change the hearts of other people. 

That responsibility lies with God Himself.

Therefore we do not need to worry about how people will respond to our message and service, we just need to focus on the best and most effective ways to use our talents to make disciples. 

This reality should give us a sense of relief. It isn't about the number of disciple we made, but it is about our faithfulness to God's calling.