Do What?

II Timothy 3:14-15

Hebrews 11:1 says, (I know I said II Timothy above, but hold on. We will get there). "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". Faith is not blind. It is trusting God to do what He has said He will do. It is believing in His reliability because He has demonstrated His trustworthiness time and time again. Think of it this way, you can see a table. No faith needed. You can see things sitting on the table. Therefore, you believe the table is capable of supporting weight. Again, no faith needed. However, trusting the table to support your weight is a very different thing. The only way to see if the table can support your weight is to put you weight on the table. This requires taking what you have observed (the table and its ability to support weight) and trusting that it can support your weight (faith in what you have yet to see). If you say you trust the table and you step up on the table, your faith is the evidence of what you say you believe, though it has yet to be seen.

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"But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."

II Timothy 3:14-15

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Paul tells Timothy that he must continue in the things which he has learned and been assured of. The word "continue" means to abide or persevere. Paul was saying, "When things get tough, keep believing. When you don't feel like you believe, keep believing. When people tell you that you are wrong, keep believing. When you are all alone, and it feels like you have lost, keep believing." Persevere in what you have learned!

Many Christians have an academic knowledge of God's Word. If you ask them what the Bible says about many subjects, they may not be able to quote chapter and verse, but they know the concept. The problem is, academic knowledge is only good for a test. What Christians need is faith! Faith is demonstrated when we know what God's Word says (seeing), and then we step up on it and believe that it will hold us up (unseen).

Just as Paul told Timothy, we need to abide in and on God's Word. When we cannot see what is happening, we must trust God. When we cannot see where the road is leading us, we must trust God. When we do not understand why, we must trust God. Our faith is evidence, not only to ourselves, but to the world that we believe what we profess.

Father, academic knowledge of Your Word is easy. Trusting You and Your Word is when it can be difficult. So often we know what Your Word says, but we trust what we feel or believe. Help us to trust You and Your Word. Help us to live what we profess!