THE FLIP SIDE OF FAITH -- Devotional for October 28, from "Good Seeds"

The righteous man will live by his faith, but wine betrays the haughty man. The just shall live by faith. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. (Habakkuk 2:4-5; Romans 1:17; 14:23)

Solomon often expressed God’s wisdom in couplets of two contrasting ideas. For example, Proverbs 11:14 says, “Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in abundance of counselors there is victory.” That pattern for wise sayings used by King Solomon works also for solid doctrine in the writings of the prophet Habakkuk: “A man is led aright by his faith, astray by his addictions.” No doubt the two most important words in the entire Bible are grace and faith. Grace is the way God relates to man, while faith is the way men come to God. There is no theology more significant or crucial than that encompassed by the partnering of these two themes (Ephesians 2:8-9). Anthropologists want us to think the religion of Homo sapien evolved from simple to complex, right along with his physiology. In the minds of pre-human man, they would say, thoughts wouldn’t have gone much beyond those of pain, pleasure and survival. And yet, when we go back thousands of years in history we find Abraham, a man who “believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Romans 4:3). An old philosopher defined his own humanity this way: “I think, therefore I am.” A far more ancient thinker took that rudimentary statement a long step further when he said, “I believe God, therefore I am safe in His care” (Paul: Acts 27:25). And in more recent times (a mere 500 years ago!), when Martin Luther stumbled upon these Scriptures about faith, he found the footing he needed to take his stand against the religionists of the day who were teaching salvation by works: “Do you want to be righteous in the eyes of God, to be forgiven of all your trespasses, past, present and future? Come to Jesus. He will save you, by GRACE ALONE, through FAITH ALONE – truths found in SCRIPTURE ALONE!" This was not a popular slant on the “truth” being taught – or rather sold! – by Luther’s contemporaries. And even today faith teaching remains a burr in the saddle of those who think we can please God through our own efforts. This is taught even by those who claim to believe the Bible from cover to cover – the Bible that says not only that “our iniquities, like the wind, have blown us away, but that even our acts of righteousness are no cleaner than filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). “We dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand – all other ground is sinking sand.” Indeed, all other grounds for right standing with God are sin, all grounds not of “faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave His life for me” (Galatians 2:20).