The Bible doesn't mince words when it said, "The righteous shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17). Indeed, the life of a Christian begins in faith, can only continue in faith, and will end victoriously by faith, or in defeat without faith. The life of a Christian can only be lived on faith alone and nothing else.
Faith is described as "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). It is the basic requirement in living out the Christian life. This, and nothing else, is what we need for the life that God has for us.
Not convinced? Here are some truths explaining why the Christian life can only be lived through faith.
1. Jesus, not us, started our faith
Hebrews 12:2 tells us that "Jesus" is "the founder and perfecter of our faith." Our faith in God can never be credited to us, not one bit.
Why?
It's because we were blinded to the things of God before we knew Him. "Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News" (2 Corinthians 4:4). Before God "made [His] light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ," (v. 6) we never had the chance to know Him.
He was the one who opened our eyes to our pitiful and hopeless condition. It was He who revealed Himself to us. We don't have a part in that.
2. God is the one bringing us to completion
Philippians 1:6 tells us that, "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." Yes, God is the one who began and will continue working in us.
While some of us might say, "I'm doing my best to change," the fact is that we are unable to win against sin and our bondages on our own. It's by God's enabling grace, through the power of the Holy Spirit, that we are able to truly change from the inside out!
Brothers and sisters, this is still God's work, and we can never boast of ourselves in it!
3. God is the One who will perfect us
Friends, we won't receive any credit in this, because the Christian life begins and ends with God and God alone – we're only recipients of His grace. Don't think that since it's all God's work, we won't do anything anymore. No, that's wrong. We need to do our part, but we will only succeed when we trust in the Lord.
Philippians 3:3 tells us that, "We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort." We can't live this life without Christ's help, neither can we add anything to it with our own strength. Jesus said in John 15:5, "Apart from me you can do nothing."
