Do you remember the first time you had to rely on your faith? Maybe you can point to one specific memory, or maybe it was spread out over time.
Even though the circumstances that drive us closer to Jesus can often be difficult or painful, the act of having faith doesn’t require much from us. It simply means trusting Him. It’s resting in His trustworthiness.
For me, it helps to ask other believers to share their own faith experiences—especially those who have walked with Jesus for a long time.
Our reading today in Romans tells us, “The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Romans 3:22). According to Paul’s letter, we can’t do what is good and right outside of Jesus. Apart from Him, our faith is a constellation of abstract beliefs, and our attempts at moral living are merely striving.
I may love others and try to faithfully serve my community, but these things don’t make me righteous before God. It’s Jesus who does that. We are justified not because of our acts but because of our faith (v.26).
In Jill Phillips’s song, “I’ll Meet You There,” she sings this lyric:
Don’t fear the long descent
The path’s been broken in by saints before us
Each tear you cry
Will find its place inside that ancient chorus
I love this image of a path already broken in—or a river filled with tears from believers who have gone before us. It helps me feel less alone. And it reminds me that Jesus is one of those who has already walked the path of faith (and cried plenty of tears!). As God’s people, all we need to do is follow and believe.
Faith can really be that simple. But walking it out takes a lot of practice. When I try to do “all the things” because it feels like I’m making God proud, I need to pause and reflect on what Scripture tells us. “In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins” (Colossians 1:14).
The call of Scripture is that as we grow older, we are to grow in our faith too. Hopefully, it expands and deepens in ways that lead us to rest in Jesus’s trustworthiness rather than try and earn our righteousness another way.
And if we feel alone, remember that the path of faith has already been broken in by Jesus. We are asked only to believe (Romans 4:3). We don’t need to forge a new path; we’re invited to faithfully follow Jesus, our Good Shepherd, who walks beside and before us.
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I struggle with self condemnation and looking at others’ flaws. I’ve been praying and being more and more conscious about it, praying against it every time I happens. Please pray that this lie of self condemnation is ripped out of my heart so God can fully use me to love others and no longer look at flaws but see His creation instead.
She’s. I rarely post. But tonight i covet your prayers. My daughter, adamantly not a Christian, is going to her first mediation conference tomorrow at 9:00 mdt. Its an awful situation. Asking for your prayers.
I just find it interesting that the word for “forbearance” in the Greek is a word “paresis” (transliterated of course), which means “to release something closely felt”. In God’s passing over of our former sins (3:24), it wasn’t something he took lightly. Paresis is a word that explains the giving up of something that God felt extremely deeply. Passing over our sins was incredibly painful for him, but in God’s action of releasing us from that, we are now free.
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Praying alongside you HL! I too am looking for peace in job related things. <3
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted on here but tonight I am asking for prayer. There are some things going on with my job and I would appreciate prayer. Praying for faith and peace to make the right decisions. Thank you ladies.
I thank God he has us the gift of grace