Faith is our obedience to act like Jesus instead of acting like ourselves.

I am counting on the LORD; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word. [Psalm 130.5]

This is a powerful statement to make!

I count on a lot of things.

I count on the sun to rise each day. I count on my house to protect me from the elements. I count on my car to get me where I am going. I count on my government to protect me...

You know, if we are counting on anything but the LORD, we are setting ourselves up for failure.

But let us take this verse a little deeper today... Let's get past the 'counting' part and get on to the 'hoping in God's Word' part.

Why can we count on God? Because His Word tells us we can.

But that's all just Sunday talk, right? We still have to work, watch over our kids (grandkids too), pay our bills, prepare for retirement...

Maybe so, but where is our heart is all this? Is it trusting and hoping in God's Word. Is it founded upon faith that everything God has said - that every promise is absolutely true - and will be as God said ...if we will only believe?

Do we find it easier to just trust in ourselves? Sure, go to church one day a week, but "you gotta look out for yourself." Is this our mindset? Is faith just a nice topic for church-day but really not applicable the other six days? Let's get real and honest... most of us think this way (albeit unconsciously).

Faith in God is not just something that would be nice if it overcame us someday. According to the Bible, every person is given "the measure of faith" as if it is a ration assigned to each person. If it is a "ratio assigned to each of us" then there is a purpose for it. If there is a purpose for it, we need to know it because there is a responsibility attached to it!

Yes, each of us is responsible for what we do with the faith we have been given. Every person in the world has Kingdom responsibility. Now, whether or not they fulfill that responsibility is strictly up to them, but the responsibility remains. Why? Because every person is given the measure (think "ration") of faith.

Jesus is our best example of what living in our measure of faith might look like. But He was God, right? Yes, He was God, but did you ever wonder why He never seemed to appreciate people declaring He was the Son of God and, instead, referred to Himself as the Son of Man? He knew he was demonstrating what man should do, filled with God's Spirit. He went so far as to demand His followers live by faith and turn their back (so to speak) on living for themselves ("take up your cross and follow Me...").

It seems we have inadvertently slipped into some erroneous thinking about God's word and faith. We have made God's Word out to be something of a 'medicine' to be taken in order to have faith. But, that is where we have made the mistake. Faith is found in the conviction that we must obediently live and act like Jesus - conviction we would not otherwise have apart from knowing God's story - God's Word. Faith is an obedience! It is not about mustering enough Bible memory verses to finally be able to move a bit of sand (and, the more we "take of the medicine" the more of a mountain we can move).

People will not act like someone they do not know - that is why we need the Bible! There is no magic formula in the Bible. There is only God's Story, and God's Story has ALWAYS been about obedience - obedience to the Law at first, then obedience to faith - but ALL nonetheless obedience to God! The Bible is how we know God and the Bible is how we know Jesus. We cannot act like someone we do not know! 

Faith is our obedience to act like Jesus instead of acting like ourselves.

Father, I am counting on You. I put my hope in Your Word - that the more I learn of Jesus and act like Him, the more I will please You.