Faith Is A Gift!

So a fundamental concern I carried with me as I wrote the book Faith That Sees Through The Culture (CPH, 2018) was how easy it is for Christians to become discouraged in the face of the culture. When this happens, we have a tendency to forget to return to our source of faith. It is like the person who is stressing and feeling anxiety, who forgets to breath deeply. It is ironic that just when we need more oxygen, that our habit is to breathe less as we tighten up. We cut ourselves off from the very thing that is helpful. I did not use this analogy in the book, but it is akin to the point I made in the book. We need faith's source each and every day, and not just every once in a while.

From page 16 of Faith That Sees Through The Culture: "Faith, while it eventually impacts every faculty of a person -- including the will (so that faith is experienced also in the will) -- is not reduced to an action of the will. It is a gift from God that God must bring into existence....Through the Word of Christ, God creates and preserves. If this faith is to survive and grow, therefore, it must receive the Word of Christ over and over again."

Sometimes we hear that the Word of God is our "instruction manual," but such a description is reductionistic. It is far more than a book of instruction (though holy Torah is indeed both the holy instruction of law and grace), but it is in itself what the Holy Spirit works through to create, preserve, and nurture faith. The Word of God does more than teach, it feeds and empowers. As we live and interact within the cutlure, let us not forget our life-line. Let us abide in the Word, not every once in a while, but every, single day.

Will you breathe oxygen today? Will you eat food? Will you drink drink? Then Christian, receive the Word as it is even more important than oxygen, food, and drink! It is your food for eternal life and yes, for life here and now!

In the Name of the LORD,

Dr. Espinosa