- Faith Is Finding God for Ourselves

07 - Faith Is Finding God for Ourselves
GOD IS NOT LOOKING for carbon copies of Abraham to believe Him and obey Him in this twentieth century. He is not looking for carbon copies of Enoch, or Noah, or Moses, or David.
God is looking for persons exactly like you and me. The old heroes of faith named in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews have long ago gone to their reward, as the writer has reminded us:
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets. … They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. … These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:32, Hebrews 11:37-40)
It is plain to see from this text that God had us in His heart and in His thoughts. Even as the Old Testament saints were passing on to be forever with the God they loved, God had us in mind, too. Those heroes of the faith died, but God did not die with them. The eternal character of God has never changed and it never will. God continues to be God. He continues to be in control throughout His universe. He assures us He is the God of the living. He is still yearning, loving, calling men and women everywhere. He is still gladly responding to the prayers of His believing people. Best of all, He is still seeking and wooing those of our day who are ready and willing to become His new heroes in the faith!
God has a design for each of us
I wonder if we are consistently holding to this assurance of God’s presence and God’s blessing in our Christian churches today. God does want to speak to all of us who will listen! I repeat: God is not looking for an exact replica of Abraham or Noah or David. He wants to bless, equip and use our individuality—every one of us who by faith make up His believing people in our own generation.
You cannot study the Book of Hebrews long without discovering that faith in God is neither an ordinary nor an imaginary quality. Godly faith is dynamic and powerful! The accomplishments of faith are rightfully attributed only to God, of course. But it is satisfying to know that the people He blesses and uses may be as different in personality as night is from day.
This is an important lesson for us to learn. God does not intend that we who believe and trust Him shall all be alike—all poured into the same mold. No! It is actually one of the snares of Christian experience to think that we must copy one another.
Each one of us is different
God knew very well what He was doing when He created us to differ in personality, temperament and disposition. It has been well demonstrated that variety is the very hallmark of God’s creation throughout the universe.
As humans, we do not understand how it can be, but biologists tells us they can examine thousands upon thousands of leaves in the forest and never find two exactly alike! In the Chicago church where I ministered for many years, we had identical twins—Irene and Ilene. We watched them grow and develop. Although they were called identical, they exhibited traits and expressions that were different. For that reason, most of us could tell them apart and call them by their right names.
We have come to realize and accept the fact that there are no two people exactly, identically alike in our world. And the point I am making is that God, the all-knowing divine artist, has formed each one of us out of His inexhaustible variety. He works in His wisdom and love to bless and honor the many differences—as well as the similarities—in men and women.
God accepts us no matter where we fall within the range of varying human personalities. He desires to manifest Himself to us and through us, no matter how different we may be. May I give you an illustration?
When the time comes around for the annual decorating of your Christmas tree, you get out the string or strings of lights that have been carefully packed since the year before. You wrap those
lights as artistically as possible around your tree. You make sure you have a good mixture of red, green, yellow, blue and maybe white lights.
It is not likely you ever stop to worry whether you need more than one kind of electricity to light the bulbs of different colors. The same power, the same amount of power flows through each. Only the glass or the coating on the glass differs. The power flowing through the filaments creates the light.
The same source of illumination
God makes all of us different from one another, but by His Spirit He will bring divine illumination and power to our beings. That is something we understand. That is why we are glad we are not all alike. We can read and talk about Wesley and Moody and A. B. Simpson and Billy Sunday, about Holy Anne and Sophie the scrubwoman. It is God’s planned variety and not similarity that makes beauty and interest in our world.
We should thank God for giving us our own individual personalities and temperaments and abilities. We should never waste time and energy trying to fashion ourselves after someone else, no matter how much we admire that person. God does not expect us to become identical copies of our spiritual heroes.
Actually, I have learned something very important about our efforts to become someone else. If I am tempted to copy someone whom I admire as a Christian believer, I will probably succeed only in copying his or her eccentricities and not that person’s spirituality at all.
It is futile to try to assume another person’s good characteristics. In only these respects should we all try to be alike: We should love God more than anything or anyone else, we should hate sin and iniquity even as Jesus hated them, and we should be willing always to obey God through the leading of His Word and His Spirit. Apart from that, it is perfectly natural for us to be ourselves, that is, different from each other.
God is the same today
I see another lesson in this Hebrews text. God has never in the past done anything good in response to faith that He is unwilling to do again. Let me turn that around and say it this way: Everything good that God has done in the past in response to faith, He is willing to do again. We need only believe and obey.
How subtle is unbelief! You read the biography of one of God’s great saints and suddenly you are overcome with discouragement. You find you are comparing yourself very unfavorably with the
one you have been reading about. Let me pass on some advice. Do not stop reading about God’s great men and women. But keep in mind that faith and obedience, not their abilities or temperaments or dispositions, are what matter. God knows how best to use us for His glory and as His witnesses.
Faith came like a dove to the heart of Abraham—but not only to Abraham. Faith came to the rascal Jacob as well. Faith came to Moses, it is true. But faith came also to Samson. Faith came to Sarah. Faith came as well to Rahab. I think of a simple little song we used to sing:
Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream,
All the fitness here required
Is to feel your need of Him.
I feel good about that advice! I am not to compare myself with Abraham or Luther or Billy Graham and wonder how I can qualify as a good and useful Christian. If I truly feel my need of God, I can approach Him and expect Him to work through my uniqueness.
Be careful!
This problem of personal identity not infrequently troubles the faithful minister. The congregation has called him as their pastor and teacher, but the members have a hard time forgetting the saintly predecessor who died or who was called to another ministry. They find it hard to make room for the new minister—mainly because he is not enough like the former one. His voice is different. So are his gestures. His hair is not gray. His wife is not as friendly.
Be careful! God blesses people for their faith and obedience, not because they are old or young, bald or gray, pleasant voiced or raspy. God expects each one of us to let Him use us in helping people to a walk of spiritual blessing and victory. Not necessarily must we have had a long record as heroes in the faith to qualify.
A personal testimony
I do not look upon myself as especially notable. But I am invariably blessed when I discover God has used me to help someone else in the Christian faith. I was addressing a group of Lutherans on the life of fullness in the Holy Spirit. During a brief time of testimony after one of my messages, a young man who said he was a pastor told the group he carried in his Bible a copy of a small piece I once wrote: “The Prayer of a Minor Prophet.”
I remember writing that piece. I wrote it from my heart, letting it express my own feelings about the responsibilities of a man genuinely called into the ministry of God’s holy Word. In his words to the group, the young man said, “When I get discouraged, when there is trouble facing me, I open my Bible and read once more that prayer of one of God’s prophets.” He then expressed gratitude that in God’s timing his path and mine had crossed.
Do you suppose that young man, as he read my “prayer,” thought of A. W. Tozer as some kind of a hero of the faith? That would have been a very inflated idea—far beyond the assessment held by Mrs. A. W. Tozer, for instance! Most of us are inclined to quote other people, particularly those we consider to be good examples. Probably it is a good thing that we do not know them as well as their families do! Otherwise we would have to be more cautious about our quoting them and holding them up for veneration.
We can be today’s people of faith
My emphasis is this: Just as those who lived in the past had the privilege of being God’s people of faith then, so do we in our own day. It is good to come to the understanding that while God wants us to be holy and Spirit-filled, He does not expect us to look like Abraham or to play the harp like David or to have the same spiritual insight given to Paul.
All of those former heroes of the faith are dead. You are alive in your generation. A Bible proverb says that it is better to be a living dog than a dead lion. You may wish to be Abraham or Isaac or Jacob, but remember that they have been asleep for long centuries, and you are still around! You can witness for your Lord today. You can still pray. You can still give of your substance to help those in need. You can still encourage the depressed.
I hope you have not missed something good from God’s hand because you felt you did not measure up to Gideon or Isaiah. In this your generation, give God all of your attention! Give Him all of your love! Give Him all of your devotion and faithful service! You do not know what holy, happy secret God may want to whisper to your responsive heart.
Three simple things
Do you respond to this great possibility by asking, “How can I know?” I answer with an emphasis upon three simple things reinforced in the Word of God for those who will discern God’s highest will.
First, be willing to put away known sin. Next, separate yourself from all of the attractions of the world, the flesh and the devil. Finally, offer yourself to your God and Savior in believing faith. God has never yet turned away an honest, sincere person who has come to know the eternal value of the atonement and the peace that is promised through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The only person who is incurably sick is the one who thinks he or she is well. The only person who will never be cleansed and made whole is the one who insists he or she needs no remedy. The person who comes in faith to God and confesses, “I am unclean, I am sin-sick, I am blind,” will find mercy and forgiveness and life in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The doubters are still asking, “How can that be?” It can be because our Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior, the Cleanser. He is the Purifier, He is the Healer. He is the Sight-giver and the Life-giver. He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life!
God expects us to live in faith and victory so that we may leave our Christian testimony to a new generation that undoubtedly will need it desperately. “These all died in faith,”
the writer to the Hebrews says. When it is our time, will we be able to meet our God knowing that we pleased Him? “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”
A bright future
God is the Faithful One. We are to love Him and serve Him because He is God—not because of the gracious things He does for us or for the rewards He promises us. Our motives should be both right and genuine. But God does not expect us to forget or ignore the gracious future promises He has made to us.
It is a glorious truth that if we believe God and honor His Word, if we walk by faith in love and obedience, there will be eternal rewards for each of us in that great coming day. The rewards will differ. Wisdom and knowledge and love reside in Him who is our God. He will make the right judgments for His people.
But I for one will not be surprised if some of God’s faithful people serving Him today should rise as high and shine as brightly as the heroes of faith listed in the Book of Hebrews. I say that in all truthfulness because I do not think all of the heroes of faith are dead and gone.
If we will take God at His Word, if we will believe Him and trust Him wholly in this ungodly and unfriendly world, if we will walk with Him as those men and women of faith walked in the long-ago past, God Himself will list us among His heroes of faith when the final records are opened.