How to Live? It's All About Faith

[HKHaugan]

Paul takes the spiritual high road as he lifts up the Gospel to the believers in Rome (Rom.1:16-17), “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, “The just shall live by faith (Hab.2:4).” His goal was to bring believers together in the truth of the Gospel in a city that was considered the sophisticated pinnacle of achievement in every area of human endeavor, Rome. Since Rome held that position Paul knew that God had chosen him to reveal a superior power in Rome, a power that could transform the human heart, the vertical reality of personal achievement, a spiritual relationship with God in Jesus Christ.

While faith is the core idea presented in Romans the operative word that introduces it is ‘revealed.’ ‘Revealed’ means it is God’s initiative, God’s intention and God’s intervention that faith is to be the heart of the Gospel message. It is not only God’s idea, it is God’s action and His nature of faithfulness that becomes for each believer a personal experience of what it really means to be right in the most ultimate sense.

It means a right relationship with God, a right relationship with others and a sense of being right within one’s heart. It means we can stand alone in a world trying to dominate our mind and our behavior. It means we can discover how to live with meaning, purpose and significance guided by the Spirit of God who created everything to begin with. It means we can be witnesses to a spiritual reality that can redirect the whole world. It means we no longer have to play up to those who have social, economic and political power.

Note, ---the revelation comes from above. The vertical into the horizontal. Is it any wonder why Jesus went to the Cross? God has chosen the Cross to keep us focused on the way He chose for us to live, the eyes of the mind and heart on God and the eyes of the mind and the heart serving the world. It is the Cross that joins the horizontal and the vertical. When you begin looking at the world as it really is what stands out is that the dimension you can see, the one you live in, is horizontal. That is we look from side to side in relationships, in society and in our atmosphere. But when we look for meaning, for the way to live in the horizontal, for values to follow, we look up, we look vertically. We talk about the earth below and Heaven above. Scripture tells us to “Set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things (Col.3:1-2).”

The Cross is the visible symbol of God’s love reaching out to the world. The revelation is that faith is our vertical reach to God and His love reaches us through our faith in Him. He has revealed Himself through the Cross because that is how He wants us to see everything, through the Cross. This is why Jesus tells us to take up our cross, to live in the shadow of the Cross, to live by faith which is the way of the Cross. The Cross is what we carry into every next moment. Everything we do is motivated by what we can’t see. When what we can’t see is the living God it is our obedience to Him through which He reveals Himself.

The word ‘reveal’ shows that God wanted, desired and gave everything He had to make faith the guarantee of His presence in the heart of every one who receives Him. So we can see why Paul tells us that it is from faith to faith, that is every time we act in faith we move on to the next opportunity to do the same so that we find ourselves faithful as a way of life. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Gal.2:20).”