A Precious Faith
There is a legend that a traveller over the desert who was nearly perishing with hunger came upon the spot where a company had lately encamped. Searching about for some article of food, he found a small bag which he hoped might be a bag of dates. Opening it, he discovered that it contained shells and silver coins. Throwing it down, in bitter disappointment, he exclaimed, “Alas! it is nothing but money!” A single date or a fig would have been worth more to him then than a chest-full of gold. There is a time coming to all of us when we would gladly surrender the wealth of the whole world for what an apostle once called “a like precious faith.”
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Peter was partial to this word, precious; it is one of the ear-marks to establish the identity of authorship in the two Epistles which bear his name. He speaks of the precious blood of Christ, of a precious cornerstone, of the precious trial of our faith, and of precious and exceeding great promises. Among this jewel-cluster there is none more full of meaning than when he speaks of “them that have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (New Revision.)
Faith is confiding trust. “Ah, but my faith was anything but precious to me,” says some one, “for I trusted a man who wronged me out of thousands of dollars.” Your faith, my friend, was not a wrong principle, but you bestowed it on the wrong person. His worthlessness made tke trust worthless. Without mutual cont02 BEULAH-LAND.
fidence all the sweetest intercourse of domestic life and all the operations of trade would come to an instant halt. If faith in one another is so indispensable to the ordinary transactions of life, faith in the divine Redeemer is indispensable to our salvation. It is the very core of Bible-religion.
But this saving faith is vastly more than a good opinion about Christ, or a belief in Christ. Multitudes of intelligent sinners have this. Saving faith is not only a confidence in the atoning Saviour; it is a strong grasp of this Saviour and a union of heart and life to him. It is the act of trust by which I, a person, unite myself to another person, even to the Son of God. It is unspeakably precious, because it is the source of all my spiritual life. No grace until that grace comes. Faith drives the nail which fastens me
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to Jesus, and then love clinches it; faith ties the knot, and true love makes it tighter and stronger every hour.
1. Faith is precious because it is the channel of connection through which Jesus pours the life stream into my soul. The value of the channel is what it brings to me. The lead pipe which passes from the street in under my house may be worth only a few cents a pound, but the water it conducts is the life of my family. Christ dwells in our hearts only through faith. The cause of drought in a Christian or in a church is that sin has obstructed the faith-pipe, and Christ is shut off. A revival, or a re-living, means a clearing out of the spiritual channel.
2. The preciousness of faith lies also in its protection from deadly adversaries. We read of the “shield of faith,” but it has been well said that Christ is the actual shield, and faith is only the grasping arm which holds it up before us. A false faith inspires a false security. Right there lies the awful danger of many in our congregations. They are trusting in their own morality, or in their good associations, or perhaps in the popular delusion of a second probation after death. Christ is the actual Protector. His presence barricades my heart from the assaults of the tempter. His strength is made perfect in and for our weakness.
3. Precious is this Christ-faith, also, because it imparts power. As a principle of action throughout all human history faith has been the inspiration of progress. The human mind is at its best and strongest when under this inspiration, whether it be elevating Galileo’s telescope, or steering Columbus’ pinnace, or trailing Morse’s and Field’s telegraph-cable through stormy seas. The moment that the man with the withered arm exercised faith in Christ the divine power shot into that paralyzed limb, and he lifted it. Faith calculates on this reserved strength, and is not afraid to essay difficult tasks. “I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me.” Here is the encouragement for young converts who propose to make a public confession of Christ; they can calculate just as confidently on their Master’s perpetual aid as they can on the rising of to-morrow’s sun.
4. What consolations too doth this precious faith afford! How it restores the balance between all the inequalities of life! Are you poor? Yes, but richer than Croesus with the uncountable riches of Christ. Have you met with a heavy loss? Yes; but you open the blessed Book and read that to you “are given precious and exceeding great promises.” Suppose that you had received a letter announcing the loss of the money you were depending on for support. While you are reading it a generous friend happens in who observes the sadness on your face, and asks to read the letter. When he has finished it he quietly remarks, “Do n’t worry; I ’11 take care of this.” Your countenance lights up in an instant. So the blessed Jesus draws up closely to the bereaved mother and whispers, “I have that precious child in my eternal keeping;” so he says to the disheartened minister, “Go on and sow my gospel-seed and I will take care of the harvest;” yea, in all the dark, trying hours faith trims her lamp with the oil of the promises which Jesus furnisheth. Heaven is as yet only a promise; but to the believer it would not be one whit more a certainty if his feet were already in the golden streets.
5. This Christ-faith is so precious, also, because it is so costly. On Christ’s part it cost Gethsemane’s agony and Calvary’s sacrifice. On our part it costs repentance of sin, self-surrender, the denial of greedy lusts and hard battles with temptation, A very hot furnace is often required to make its pure gold shine; and roaring tempests are often let loose in order to tighten the hold of its anchor.