Perfect Faith

"Night and day praying exceedingly that we might

see your face, and might perfect that which is

lacking in your faith."

- 1 Thessalonians 3:10

Blaise Pascal was a seventeenth century philosopher who once said, "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man, which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ." He added, "This craving, this helpless search from within, tries to fill itself with everything around it, though nothing helps, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with God himself." We are told by the apostle Paul that "The Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils" (1 Tim 4:1). While it may be understandable to reason why the sinner would seek everything around him to fill this empty void, seeing that he knows not his Creator, it is clearly indefinable for us to reason why any believer could depart from the faith, having once experienced this God-shaped vacuum being filled through Jesus Christ. This word "depart," means to withdraw, to stand aloof, to back away, to remove one's self, to stand back, to shun, to desert. If you were to place any one of these words in the above scripture, you would begin to see much of what is marking our current surroundings. People who once were committed to the faith are beginning to drift away from their convictions. They are backing away from what they once held dear.

"One of the key signatures to perfect

faith is becoming a Friend of God"

There is a passage in the epistle of James that defines faith. It reads, "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?"Later he says, "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."James uses Abraham as an example in his argument - how he offered Isaac, his son, upon the altar and that by works was his faith made perfect. How easy it would be to shun such an idea, but Abraham refused to waver. He was completed devoted to pleasing God. And it was his actions that proved his faith! Listen to what James recalls, "And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God" (James 2:14-23). One of the key signatures to perfect faith is becoming a Friend of God.A friend is someone who is constant in his love and devotion (Pro. 17:17). There is no pretense.It is not like a friend to love only for advantage or to abide faithful just when times are good. Proverbs chapter eighteen says, "...and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother" (Pro. 18:24). Friendship is the basis for covenant. True friends are loyal. They have a conviction to aid, to protect, to provide whatever is needed, when it is needed. Friends don't betray each other. They don't turn their back and walk away. To become a true friend of God means your spirit finds a level of relationship that cannot be twisted, cannot be turned, and will never be satisfied with just the initial filling of that void - but rather finds a need for constant refillings. It is perfect faith that maintains a close friendship whose aim is to stay full.

Perfect faith is when something is settled inside you where nothing will ever cause you to back away or fall away from your commitment to Christ. The Amplified Bible defines faith as, "...the assurance (the confirmation, the title-deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality-faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses"(Heb. 11:1). There is a conviction to faith that takes over your life. It is what holds you steady when things around are unstable. This conviction is a part of your friendship with God that makes you "stick" when others want to retreat! Being able to maintain an unwavering conviction is to come to that place where faith lives only to please God. Anyone who lacks this conviction can easily drift away, fall away, or even withdraw from a life of loyalty and devotion.

We are now beginning to see, in these last days, things starting to heat up. The pressures of life are increasingly bearing down upon the flesh. Only those who are firmly planted in a true friendship with God, having perfect faith, will be able to endure to the end. This is not a time to drift from your convictions. It is a time to be more fervent and more zealous than ever before. Paul exhorted us in the Book of Hebrews with these words: "Not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much more as you see the day approaching" (Heb. 10:25). Paul told the church at Corinth, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves" (2 Cor. 13:5). It is time to make that self-evaluation of your convictions and find out where your loyalties truly lie. Determine in your heart to dig deep until faith is perfected--where every ounce of your devotion is to be a FRIEND OF GOD!