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"We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because your faith growth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth."
2 Thessalonians 1:3
Faith is like a journey. It is constantly on the move, seeking new territory- new horizons. It is never stagnant or idle. The Bible says, "The just shall live by faith" (Rom. 1:17). Everything we know about life is that living things are always in a constant state of transition. They are ever changing. Even though it may be infinitesimally small, changes are occurring all the time. If we are to find life through faith, then faith must also be in a constant state of change. It is part of the spiritual laws of God. Dead things cannot produce life. Only that which is living can produce life, and since we are to live by faith, faith must also be alive. If faith is indeed alive, then it must also be changing. That is why the scripture says, we are to grow in faith. We are to be moving from faith to faith. It is an onward and upward change, pulling us to new heights in our relationship with God.
Hebrews chapter ten says, "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him" (Heb. 10:38). There is nothing about life that takes us backwards. You cannot live in the past anymore than faith can grow by holding to the past. Faith never looks back. It cannot survive on yesterday's experiences anymore than your body can live on yesterday's food intake. There is a constant need to breathe in new air, to live and move, and make necessary adjustments to things we face moment by moment, day by day.
The definition for transition states that it is a process or period in which something undergoes a change or passes from one state, stage, form, or activity to another. This is what our Christian life is all about. If we are to live as God wants us to live, then we have to pass to the next state, stage, form or activity in our faith. We cannot remain the same. We are either moving forward or falling behind, and since faith has an ongoing thrust to forge ahead, any area of our life that isn't seeing forward movement is a sign that we aren't living by faith. In fact, I'll go as far as to say, to the measure we are living by faith determines the measure of life we are living.
Faith is God's way of living. He is a faith God. Everything he has ever done has been a product of faith. The book of Hebrews says, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Heb. 11:3). Later on he adds, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Heb. 11:6). When you choose to live by faith you are pleasing God, because that is what he expects of you. He wants you to live as he lives, and you cannot live his life if you fail to live it by faith. That is why Paul told the Galatians, "...and the life I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).
Faith is what ties you to God. It is what ties you to eternity. You may be living in this natural world, but this world is not what generates your life in God. Faith is what generates your life in God, and the more you give yourself to faith, the more it will change you, to where you will see an increase of life within your relationship with your heavenly Father. Think of faith as the vehicle that carries you on the spiritual highway to all that God has for you. There are places to visit. There are places you can reach in God that only faith can take you to.
In the book of Philippians, Paul talked about his determined purpose. He said, "Not that I have already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I was apprehended of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:12). And in order for him to accomplish such a task, he went on to say, "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are ahead, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13-14). This is the true nature of faith! It lives with change, and it lives for change! That should be your goal today-letting faith transform you as it transitions you from one degree to the next degree in your pursuit of a overflowing measure of life!
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