From: Ben Kelley
Subject: Living by faith

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." (Romans 1:16-17 (NKJV)

 "The just shall live by faith" is stated 4 times in Scripture (the others are Habakkuk 2:4, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38).  Anytime a statement is made several times in the Bible, it's a sure sign God wants us to grasp what it says.  Now, I know we all apply it in the sense of "we receive(d) eternal life by (through) the vehicle of faith."  That is a true application of these verses, but there are two other perspectives we need to consider.  

Number one is, to see and hear these words as a command.  God says to us, His children, "you will live by faith!  If you want to be obedient to Me, revealing Me to a lost and dying world, do it by acting, thinking, and talking in a state of trust and dependence upon your God and Savior!  Don't fret and worry as if I wasn't real and present in your life, trust!"

The second perspective is to see and hear these words as God's description of those who belong to Him.  A real child of God cannot continuously live in fear and doubt.  There will be times we lapse into our old lifestyle of acting as if God were not real, but that can't last indefinitely!  God won't let it happen, for HE will discipline, teach, and guide us to come back to walking in faith.  HE paints a portrait of His righteousness through the medium of taking us up to "brick walls" and "deep pits" we can't get over or through except by "letting go and letting God," where we have to trust Him.  We don't just happen upon these things, they are not accidents, but canvasses the Master Artist uses to show the lost His greatness and glory.  Our God is the LORD, and HE is seen through His leading, and His children following, through "the winds and waves of life's troubled seas."  As the unrighteous see our trust and dependence upon Him, they can recognize HE is the only hope they have.

To break it down a little more succinctly, let me say faith can be seen as: (1) a noun, naming the vehicle through which we are able to receive eternal life in Jesus,  (2) a verb, telling us we are to believe on and trust in Him, and, (3) an adjective, describing the lives of those who belong to God.  Any and all of these ideas are included in the words, "the just shall live by faith."

May we each be found faith-ful, full of faith,

Ben

 "Living by faith"

(tune may be found at http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Living_by_Faith/)-+

      I care not today what the morrow may bring,
      If shadow or sunshine or rain,
      The Lord I know ruleth o’er everything,
      And all of my worries are vain.