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The first way is the most important – faith in Christ for salvation:

“Jesus said to her [Martha], ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’ “ (John 11:25-26).

Faith in Christ is a personal trust in Him to be my Savior, my personal Rescuer from the wages of sin which is death (Romans 6:23). When I trusted the Lord as a child, I remember a very strong and complete confidence that Jesus died and rose for me, and that I was saved and had received His eternal life.

Saving faith is a matter of the object rather than the ‘quality or quantity’ of the faith. Years ago, I exercised faith in a surgeon to remove a diseased gall bladder that would have killed me. It saved my biological life. In that case it was better to trust the surgeon, than trust a librarian. The surgeon is trained and equipped to operate; the best a librarian can offer is to have read or cataloged books about the operation.

Likewise, faith in Christ to save is faith in a person with the power to save me, rather than trusting people who know Him. I might trust people to correctly inform me, but only by faith in Jesus can I be saved. In fact it‘s actually the testimony of the Father through the Spirit to my heart that I can ever understand my need for the Son (1 John 5:9-13).

The second way faith in Christ is expressed, is how we are to live out this new life as a new creature in Him. Just, what does a new creature know about new life anyway? It's NEW; I can't understand any of it because it's NEW. I'm not reborn in the image of an animal designed to live by instincts; I'm spiritually born again as a child of God designed to depend upon the now indwelling the Spirit of God.

So you see, the way I was saved, is the way I am instructed to live my life – by faith in Jesus Christ:

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7).

I received Him by faith, so I will learn to walk in Him by faith (and all of this through God's matchless grace).

When I trust Christ, God’s love comes out of me (Galatians 5:13) and the fruit of the Spirit abounds (Galatians 5:22-25). It is what Jesus hinted at when a group looking for a second ‘free lunch’ asked Him:

“…’What must we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’ ” (John 6:28-29).

It was how the apostle Paul understood the Christian life to be – a life of continually trusting Jesus:

“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 faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20).

When I finally got what Jesus and Paul were talking about, it totally revolutionized the way I lived my life as a Christian; my life was no longer performance by self-will, self-improvement, self-condemnation or obligation, but by faith out of love because He loved me first, warts and all.

For me, faith in Christ is a daily walk of resting from my own efforts at trying to serve God, love God or ‘help Him out’ and be a servant out of love awaiting His direction. He is the One who began His good work in me and is the One who will finish it (Philippians 1:6). This teaches me to say “Thank you, Lord” and give Him all the glory for anything I might accomplish in His name. Even when I fail and express faith in myself or something else, He is the faithful one who shepherds me back to Himself by His love.

"Love, grace, truth and life -
It's all about Jesus." ™

Bud

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