Keep The Faith

Christians are to have faith. We are to “walk by faith” (2 Cor. 5:7) for the “just live by faith” (Rom. 1:17). So why is this? Why do we need faith?

We need faith because we cannot physically see the things of the spirit. We need to believe God and “Trust in the Lord” (Prov. 3:5). We are to love God since He loved us first (1 John 4:19) and by being faithful we show that love.

By having faith we, in turn, also have hope. Faith is the “substance of things hoped for” (Heb. 11:1). Without having faith in the great things to come for God’s children, how can we have any hope? If we do not have faith and do not believe what the Bible says to be true, we are really living a hopeless life. How sad to look towards the future and have nothing to hope for.

Keep the faith! That is what we must do. By keeping the faith we are keeping a hold of a hope and goal. We are clasping to the thoughts, dreams, and ideas of a grand new future in heaven.

This bright future can be seen in Revelation 21:1-27. There we are told of many great and wondrous things. The place where we will be, should we keep the faith, is depicted as a beautiful and glorious place. It is described with the use of many beautiful physical examples, such as the street of the city being of pure gold, like transparent glass (v. 21), or the foundations of the walls being adorned with many precious stones like jasper, emerald, and topaz (v. 19-20).

There will be no more sorrow, crying, or death (v. 4). And God and Jesus will be there. No darkness will be at that place “for the glory of God illuminate[s] it. The Lamb is its light.” (v. 23).

Should we keep the faith we have all of this and much more to look forward to. It is as Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:7-8, “7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

We too can have that hope of obtaining that crown of righteousness, but we must keep the faith. The Word of God needs to be followed and we must believe and trust in God. When we follow God’s Word and believe in Him, having faith, we can be assured that we can reach our goal and look forward to all of those many spiritual blessings.

                -- John Thrower Jr.