A Most Simple Faith

Ephesians 2 verse 8 says, ‘ For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.’

Parable 1

On my way shopping recently I came upon a beggar called Michael who I've known for many years and I gave him a gift and we started talking. Michael looked very poorly, all skin and bones and he had many ailments and illnesses, but he was an intelligent man still with a bright gleam of humour and life in his eyes and eventually we got round to my favourite subject Jesus!

 I was telling him how one of my adult sons who had been brought up in a Christian household had fallen away from his faith as a typically rebellious teenager. My son Isaac had informed me he believed in God but not in Jesus as God and the only begotten Son of the Father! I went on to explain that we had some had since become estranged over the years, and that it was a cause of great sorrow for my wife and I. I went on to explain that in my mind and through the reading of scripture that we all die physically both believer and unbeliever but after that we will all be judged by God and rewarded for our works by inheriting and inhabiting heaven or hell! Those who believe, trust and have faith only in Jesus will inherit a joyous and perfect eternal life with the perfect peace in heaven. A simple faith in Christ promises us a life with him, but unbelief is not worth even considering or contemplating.

Michael listened respectfully and then commented but Jesus and God are one and the same! He explained he prayed every day that God would bless and shield him and placed his faith in him, this amazing man in a few short sentences had distilled the very essence of a simple faith. I walked away dumb struck, dumbfounded, amazed how God used Michael to teach me such an important and yet very simple faith to have. Will I see Michael again? I'm not so sure about here on earth: but I know in heaven we will meet again.

Luke 16 verses 19-31

19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ 27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”

Acts 3 verses 1-16

Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. 11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. 12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. 14 But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. 16 And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Parable 2

I was even more recently admitted into hospital for an emergency procedure and whilst there met many amazing people: many porters and cleaners, nurses an orderlies. The hospital is like a mini League of Nations and many of the caregivers there are Christian nurse more as a vocation than a salary! I connected with a wonderful Nigerian nurse who had ambitions to be a doctor. A gay Filipino nurse and another wonderful Filipino Catholic lady who was tender and compassionate: and I commented on the warmth of her hands and that in many Christian circles it denotes the gift of healing from God by his Holy Spirit over the course of two days she gave me a short history of her life back story. She informed me that she prayed every morning with her young son and that she kept a journal of faith and prayer requests she explained that she easily felt guilty about giving more of herself to God. I tried to encourage her,  that evening and she went home from her 12 hour night shift. Her simple faith inspired me and when she came back to work the next day she popped in to say that not only had she prayed for me but that God had guided her in her prayer time to a scripture that said I have forgiven you. It bought her great peace and we rejoice together about her how great is our God.

2 Corinthians 1 verse 12 – 2 Corinthians 2 verse 3

¹² For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you. ¹³ For we are not writing any other things to you than what you read or understand. Now I trust you will understand, even to the end ¹⁴ (as also you have understood us in part), that we are your boast as you also are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁵ And in this confidence I intended to come to you before, that you might have a second benefit— ¹⁶ to pass by way of you to Macedonia, to come again from Macedonia to you, and be helped by you on my way to Judea. ¹⁷ Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, Yes, and No, No? ¹⁸ But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No. ¹⁹ For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. ²⁰ For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. ²¹ Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, ²² who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee ²³ Moreover I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth. ²⁴ Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow workers for your joy; for by faith you stand. But I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in sorrow. ² For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me? ³ And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all.

Jude verses 20-25

²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. ²² And on some have compassion, making a distinction; ²³ but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. ²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, ²⁵ To God our Savior,Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.

The end