Freedom is Good News Part 120

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of (faithful) witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes upon Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

How strong was the faith of Jesus Christ?  To be slightly glib, I would say that on a scale of 1 to 10, He was at a 12!!  He came down from heaven (from the heavenly throne room of the Father) and became flesh.  Paul, in his letter to the Philippians 2:5-8, says this, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Our Savior went to the cross for us.  As He hung there, losing every drop of blood unto death, He had to have profound faith that He would be brought up unto resurrection from the grave by the mighty hand of the Father.  And then we read in the book of Hebrews, quoted above, that He is “the founder and perfecter of our faith”.

If you have faith in what the Heavenly Father has done; if you have faith in what your Savior, Jesus Christ, has done; and if you have faith in the understanding that you are walking in the path of righteousness with your Father and His Son, then you can rejoice that your faith has been founded in Jesus Christ and will be perfected in Him.  In his letter to the Galatians 2:20 Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Wow!! This is heavy stuff!!  But whoever said the bible was light?  These words of Paul are not things to be read over and forgotten – they are the truth of God and they are facts.

The good news here is that our Heavenly Father and His Son love us so much that “We have been given everything we need for life and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:3)  Paul says as much in his letter to the Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” 

But you must take the next step.  You must ponder, you must meditate upon whether you have received this calling (yes this calling, right here in the words of this article) and that you have prepared the soil of your heart so as to receive the seeds of the Gospel and to become one of the chosen ones of God.  In Acts 2:38, Peter told us what to do, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  Do you have the faith to take this step?  “And with Him will be His called, chosen and faithful followers.”