“The righteous shall live by faith.” Galatians 3:11 (ESV)
What is this faith by which I am to live? "Faith is being sure of what I hope for and certain of what I do not see" (paraphrase of Hebrews 11:1). Faith-living is life WITH HOPE and FOR HEAVEN.
The first part of faith-living WITH HOPE. Everyone wants hope. Too many live in despair. Thoreau wrote, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” Everyday I ask God for his song for my life and for the voice to sing it. Everyday I ask God for his hope for my life and the strength to believe it. Do not either settle for quiet desperation. Do not let the song die within you. Ask God for his SONG for your life and the voice to sing it everyday! Ask God for his HOPE for your life and the strength to believe it everyday. This is the first part of living by faith: WITH HOPE.
The second part of faith-living: FOR HEAVEN. I live on earth but my true life awaits in heaven. Sometimes, the earth seems so dreadful a place, with disasters, disease, death, and the cruelty of people, that I long FOR HEAVEN. Other times, the earth seems such a breathtaking and achingly beautiful place, the mountains, the sea, the great plains, the rising sun, the setting moon, and the kindness and genius of people, that I glimpse heaven here. Glimpsing heaven is also part of living FOR HEAVEN. To live FOR HEAVEN then is both to long for heaven and to glimpse it. I see it and want it. To live FOR HEAVEN, I ask God for the will to reject utterly and fight constantly disaster, disease, death, despair, and cruelty. To live FOR HEAVEN, I ask God for the will to seek and the grace to see heaven everyday in every good thing and person. Ask God to give you the longing FOR HEAVEN and the grace to see it everyday. This is the second part of living by faith: FOR HEAVEN.
Live with HOPE and for HEAVEN. This is living by faith.
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