Every day as we determine the daily, practical walk of our faith, we rely on what we see. But there is a crucial problem here: what we see is often based on how we feel and how we think. Our own human vision is limited; it is narrow and divisive. There is no Christ to be found in our corrupt, human soul. The result? Our faith is weak and fragile; even yet, we become faithless people.
If our faith is determined by what we see, then believing in the Lord is just a logical or moral understanding. But faith is not what we see or how we feel, “for who hopes for what he sees?” (Rom. 8:24). The first lesson for any believer is to deny our own sight, our own opinions and logic and allow the Lord to permeate our being, welcoming Him in and receiving Him as our absolute Savior. The only way we can do this is if we meet Him as a living person. This experience is altogether subjective, like Paul who met the Lord on the way to Damascus or like Abraham who met and served the Lord at the entrance of his own tent. When Paul and Abraham met the Lord, it wasn’t based on a feeling or a logic. They met the Lord as a tangible, living Person. Have we?
The same is true when we approach the Bible. Instead of relying on what we see, the Bible requires us to meet Christ as a living Person. When we read such words as love, grace, or peace, we might understand these items according to our own sight, our own feelings, and our own logic. But love has nothing to do with how we feel. It’s not what we watch in the movies or a “happily ever after.” Neither is peace according to our own definition, like advocating for world peace or solving world hunger. And grace isn’t a biblical term for us to understand; it is an experience of life, a manifestation and expression of a true and real love from and of God. At a certain point in our walk with the Lord, we will realize that love is nothing but His love, grace is nothing but His grace, and peace is nothing but His peace. True love, grace, and peace are simply Christ Himself.
If we claim to be true pursuers of the Lord, we should stop talking about what we see or feel or think. When the Lord is not the source, our definitions of love, grace, and peace are meaningless — even evil and fleshly. In our life, there are only two sources: Him or corrupted man — the tree of life or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The solution to all of man’s problems is very simple: desire nothing other than Christ! Reckon that we are nothing without Him. If we are full of our own desires, our own vanities, and our own definitions, how can our vessels be available for Christ to come in? When we want so many things other than Christ, how can we receive Him as our person? Like Paul and Abraham, we have to account ourselves as wretched, worthless sinners. We have to see that we are nothing and that He is everything! Once we recognize our unworthiness, we will drop our old life; our testimony will be that we refuse even a single thread or sandal thong from the world (Gen. 14:23). This is our beginning in Christ.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, / Even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)… (Eph. 2:4-5)
(Above are notes of fellowship taken from gatherings on 6/30/2024 and 7/3/2024, not reviewed by the speaker.)