Monday, April 30, 2007

Faith Is the Currency of Heaven

What if there was one medium of exchange that could get anyone everything needed and desired in life?

Money is fairly well established, but it can’t buy you love, and it can't come close to saving your eternal soulThe satisfaction of a job well done or a life well lived lasts for the fleeting moments that the memory is fresh. It might get someone a cup of coffee from a stranger, but that's about it. Promises from human beings don't fare well at all-- look at what the native Americans got from European Americans, or what Gen-Xers will get out of Social Security.

What about faith?

The Bible declares that God has given everyone a measure of faith, so it is widely available. Jesus said: be it unto you according to your faith,” if you have faith... nothing will be impossible to you,” whatever you ask... you will receive if you have faith,” so it is effective. The Bible tells us that we are saved by grace through faith and that we await the hope of righteousness by faith, so faith is the ultimate answer!

Faith is a vector, directional, it inherently points toward something. For faith to work it must be directed at the right thing. Lots of folks have some type of faith in something, but is it capable of getting all that is needed or wanted? Can it save the soul? Faith in Jesus Christ can.

When one believes Jesus is at the right hand of all power and authority, that everything has been given to him by the heavenly Father, that all prayers prayed in his name are heard and answered, that he is capable of doing all things, that his work on the cross as verified by the resurrection is capable of making one eternally right with God…when one believes in Jesus Christ for who he is, for what he’s done, and in what he’s said, that one has the currency of heaven and the means to everything necessary and desirable under God.

But we are, pitifully, more often than not those of little faith! Thankfully, less than a mustard seed is a sufficient measure for most purposes. So what is your mustard seed growing? Is Jesus who he says he is to you? In your mind does he have the power he claims to have? Are His words reliable according to your value system? Does he have the goods, in your estimation, or not? 

These are the distilling questions that assay faith, and their answers are of utmost importance, because faith, and faith alone, is the only currency of heaven.