FAITH AND OBEDIENCE by Christian

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 10, 1880

FAITH AND OBEDIENCE.

By Christian

"FAITH cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God." The root and ground of faith is confidence in God's word. But faith thus begun by the grace and truth of God, requires for its perfection obedience and diligence on our part. We are told that in the case of Abraham "his faith wrought with his works, and through works was his faith made perfect." The prevalent weakness of faith may be therefore attributed first, to ignorance or to neglect of the sacred Word, and second, to our own disregard and neglect of the divine commands. Men doubt God's promises when they have disregarded his precepts. Faith is confidence in God, and confidence must be mutual in order to be complete. No disobedient child can have perfect confidence in the parent whom he has disobeyed. No wayward and disobedient Christian can have full faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. First, God commands us to believe, second, to obey; and "Faith without works is dead, being alone." There must be this obedient life in order to evince the reality of the faith which we have, and to perfect it, giving room for its exercise and its growth. With more hearty obedience, unbelief will vanish like a dream; and knowing God as our Father and our Friend, we shall believe his words, and believing have life through his name.—Christian.