THAT THING CALLED FAITH

Hey, I'm back. Bet you thought I was gone for good! Had a great vacation but have been having a rough time getting back in the swing of daily routine -- maybe "back in the rut" would be more descriptive! But here I am at long last!

For years I've threatened to write a devotional book on "Pet Peeves" -- spiritual pet peeves, that is. I think this would be a good time to start that!

I've been thinking a lot lately about this thing called faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith, it is impossible to please God. Then the question arises, "How do we get faith?" Romans 10:17 answers that for us: "(F)aith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

My pet peeve re faith is those people who proclaim it's useless to pray for faith -- that's not the way we get faith. We get faith by reading and searching and meditating upon the Word of God. Yes, that's true. We do get faith through searching and reading the Bible. No doubt about it. But is that the ONLY way to increase our faith?

What about the disciples in Luke 17:5 who prayed, "Lord, increase our faith." It doesn't say that Jesus rebuked them for praying thus. And can't we pray the same prayer? In all the Scriptures in John that tell us we can ask God for anything, wouldn't that "anything" include faith, too?

Hebrews 12:2 tells us that Jesus is "the author and finisher of our faith." Now what is an author? What does an author do? An author is someone who writes, who originates, who creates. So says Webster. An author may create a story, a poem, a song or what-have-you. So if God is an author, to me that suggests that He originates and creates faith which is exactly what Hebrews 12:2 is saying.

So let's not be so quick to say that we should not pray for faith or we have no need to pray for faith. God has promised to supply all our need; and if we have need of faith, let's look to the Lord to supply that need, while at the same time we do our part in obtaining faith by reading the Word of God.

I remember hearing someone once pray, "Lord, make us 'well-rounded' Christians." That's a good principle to follow in this matter of that thing called Faith.

The next time you hear someone say we shouldn't waste our time praying for faith, just remember: that's one of my Pet Peeves!

Preacher's Kid