Strong in Faith

Last night, for our family scripture study, we read Romans chapter 4. Some of it went over our heads, but some of it made a bit more sense and conveyed an aspect of faith and hope that I'd like to share this morning. In verses 18-21, as well as through most of the chapter, Paul wrote about Abraham:

18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 

19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: 

20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 

21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 

Romans 4: 18-21

At the risk of brutally butchering this passage, I'll try to explain what it says in plain English.

Even though it seemed hopeless, Abraham had hope that he would be the father of many nations, because God had promised that he would be. And because of his strong faith, he didn't worry about the fact that both he and his wife were too old to have kids. So, even though the blessing God had promised Abraham was staggering and difficult to believe, Abraham believed that it would happen, and he glorified God, knowing that what God had promised, He was able to make true.

I butchered it, didn't I? Oh, well. At least now I'm pretty sure you understand those verses as well as I do, though I had to read them a couple of times for it to make any sense to me.

This passage of scripture reminds us of a moment in time when God promised Abraham that He would do a thing that seemed impossible. But, of course, God kept His promise, lending even more evidence to the claim that nothing is impossible for God. That's great, but what most interests me about this passage is the parallel from which we may learn if we link this passage to ourselves.

God has made us a few tremendous promises as well, ones involving salvation, exaltation, and a mighty change of heart. When we get stuck in a rut or suffer a setback in our spiritual progression, we may wonder sometimes if even God is able to save us, to change us, to help us eventually become like He is. We have such a long way to go, and we're making so little progress, if any at all, it seems impossible that we'll ever reach such lofty goals. Yet, with God, all things are possible (Matt. 19: 26).

God is able to save us. He is able to change us. He is even able to exalt us until we become even as He is. But in order for that to happen (assuming I'm not mistaken), He needs us to trust Him and follow Him in faith, or at least to try to trust Him and try to follow Him. His incredible blessings rest on the prerequisite of faith, and faith is a principle of action.

There's another concept I'd like to tie into this; a concept relating to time, and a strong faith in the certainty of future events. When God says He's going to do something, it is going to happen, so sometimes, when there are prophesies of things that are going to happen, they're written in the scriptures as if they already did, because they might as well have. The truth of the matter is just as certain either way. So, if God has promised that He will work a mighty change in our hearts, perhaps it'd make sense to start acting as though He already has.

Faith being a principle of action, we should act on our belief that God is helping us to be worthy and welcome to dwell in the Celestial Kingdom with Him. We have been promised that, if we are faithful, we will be saved, so let us be faithful to that promise, and glorify God in faith that we will be saved. We don't have to wait for blessings to be realized in order to thank God for them, especially when these are blessings that God has promised will come. Let us be strong in faith, like Abraham, and strive to live worthy of the blessings God has promised us, trusting whole-heartedly that God will fulfill His promise.