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Discussion Forum : General Topics : The pride of belief versus the humility of faith

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Joined: 2006/9/16
Posts: 2753


 The pride of belief versus the humility of faith

Hi folks,

I was reading the other day how bin Laden was threatening Europe again. And trying to drag the Pope into the fray as being responsible for advocating the publishing of anti-Mohammad cartoons. Even if one doesn't agree with Catholicism that charge is ridiculous IMO. I became about half way incensed and simmering on the inside to a degree. Then a day or so later I received the following from a brother I am in touch with. I am not pushing any theological point of view and you may not agree with it all. I just offer it FWIW. It spoke to me.

< This morning while hearing my wife read to me of Islam's fury and intolerance of the infidel, I was reminded of the self-righteousness that is implicit in the attitude of many believers towards those that do not believe.

Unless we see our ability to believe as amazing grace, owing nothing to ourselves, we have not yet adequately distinguished between what is possible to man and what is not, between what is 'partly' (even 'mostly') of grace, and what is 'all' of grace. Hence, we are not far removed from those that feel such astonished outrage and intolerance towards the 'infidel', such as we see in the pride of Islam.

If we have the faith that excludes all boasting, we will weep and say with David, "Who am I? How is it possible that this should come to me?" Only God has the moral ground to require faith and to condemn the unbeliever for his unbelief. On our part, we could never glory over another who is destitute of what has come to us only by a sovereign act of merciful divine intervention. Such faith as counts with God is not from hence ("not of yourselves; it is the gift of God").

Such faith as counts for a new creation is itself the result of a new creation, and cannot exist in the believer until it is quickened of God. The faith that raises the dead is itself a resurrection phenomenon. How then can we glory as though we did not 'receive' it? Peter's faith, though at times weak and failing, was of this kind. His ability to correctly identify Jesus did not come by 'flesh and blood'. No true living faith that counts with God can come on any lesser basis than Peter's. It must be quickened. It is necessarily beyond human power, else there would be a division of the glory. If we suppose otherwise, we build again what grace destroyed, namely, the false ground that enables the 'believer' to glory against the contemptible 'unbeliever', just as the gentile 'believer' has historically boasted against the unbelieving 'natural branches', ascribing Jewish unbelief to a special stubbornness or moral depravity that he finds less prevailing in himself. This naïve optimism concerning human nature, particularly our own, is the ground of all boasting, and any faith that is predicated on such boasting cannot stand in the judgment, which occasions Paul's "be not high minded but fear." This, because boasting is inherent in a faith that traces itself to something in man or of man.

To find something in ourselves that makes us to differ is precisely what permits our sense of astonishment and moral outrage at the unbelief of the despised 'infidel'. While the believer knows the great and unjustifiable evil of unbelief, he also knows that it is only by the gift of grace that he has escaped the power of this overwhelming plague that has damned a world.

In times of great distress we learn how rare and beyond man true faith really is, what pure gift it is, and how it is so to be distinguished from the far more humanly accessible surplus of beliefs that prevail nothing apart from 'the gift of this supreme grace'. Oh to believe, to really believe God! As one young brother so eloquently said, "it takes God to love God." The same is true when it comes to faith, because only Christ in us can truly believe God. This is why the coming of such faith in the hour of trial is to the desperate soul as the very appearing of Christ. Where then is glorying save in a God of sovereign mercy?

Me: Meanwhile, blessings to you as you celebrate the incredible privilege of not just knowing about Christ's resurrection but actually being able to partake of it.


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David Winter

 2008/3/22 19:49Profile
crsschk
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Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: The pride of belief versus the humility of faith

Outstanding brother!


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Mike Balog

 2008/3/22 19:55Profile
tjservant
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Joined: 2006/8/25
Posts: 1658
Indiana USA

 Re: The pride of belief versus the humility of faith

Thank you for posting this. I truly needed it.

Grace and peace


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TJ

 2008/3/22 20:08Profile









 Re: The pride of belief versus the humility of faith


MikeB said

Quote:
Outstanding brother!



from the article
Quote:
The same is true when it comes to faith, because only Christ in us can truly believe God.

Truly a relief it is, to hear another voice echo my testimony - that I believe only with [i]His[/i] faith. Jesus said, [i]Hold the faithfulness of God[/i] (Mark 11:22).

Quote:
This is why the coming of such faith in the hour of trial is to the desperate soul as the very appearing of Christ.

Now, if I say I have [i]seen[/i] Him, [i]that's ok?[/i]

tj said
Quote:
Thank you for posting this. I truly needed it.

Grace and peace

Thanks, also. It was, indeed, a refreshing exposition of biblical truths. Amen.

 2008/3/23 0:17
ADisciple
Member



Joined: 2007/2/3
Posts: 835
Alberta, Canada

 Re: The pride of belief versus the humility of faith

Quote:

In times of great distress we learn how rare and beyond man true faith really is, what pure gift it is, and how it is so to be distinguished from the far more humanly accessible surplus of beliefs that prevail nothing apart from 'the gift of this supreme grace'. Oh to believe, to really believe God! As one young brother so eloquently said, "it takes God to love God." The same is true when it comes to faith, because only Christ in us can truly believe God. This is why the coming of such faith in the hour of trial is to the desperate soul as the very appearing of Christ. Where then is glorying save in a God of sovereign mercy?



This is so good. Thank you.

"If we love one another, [b]God dwelleth in us[/b] and [b]His love[/b] is perfected in us" (1 Jn. 4.12).

"But before faith came..."

"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto [b]Christ[/b]...

"But after that [b]faith[/b] is come..." (Gal. 3.23-25)


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Allan Halton

 2008/3/23 1:22Profile
Ruach34
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Joined: 2006/2/7
Posts: 296
Beijing

 Re:

This is a most significant statement, so much so that I printed it out and my wife and I read through it last night.

This must form our doctrine...not that our confidence is in man or our faith, but in God and Him alone. This takes all the effort away from us...it is now God's.

This is actually a statement of freedom and one of extreme seriousness. First, freedom that nothing is of man but all of God. Second, it puts the burden of God upon us to pray. We can't of ourselves do anything good, it is God and God alone through Christ Jesus our Lord!

Does this, in essence, challenge the doctrine of free will? Will everything crumble before us; doctrine, theology, how-to-do books etc...for this simple and perfect faith of God in Christ Jesus!


[color=CC3366]yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.[/color]


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RICH

 2008/3/24 10:00Profile









 Re: The pride of belief versus the humility of faith




Ruach34, you've jogged me into bringing this link over from a find by TA Sparks, which Christian posted in the Articles forum.

:-)


It's a short read, focusing on resurrection life: that over which we ourselves have no power except to receive it.

[url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=19494&forum=34&10]Resurrection: A Living Personal Reality by T. Austin-Sparks[/url]

 2008/3/24 12:04





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