Monday-Receiving Faith

Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours

2 Peter 1:1[1]

There are all kinds of faiths out there. Everywhere you go, you’re going to run into people of faith. They might deny it, they might even fight it, but everyone on planet Earth is a person of faith.

Think about it for a minute. We’ve all run into people that say that there’s no God. After all, how can you prove that there is one? Well, what’s good for the goose is also good for the gander. Just smile and ask them in return. “OK, I’ll accept that I can’t prove that there is a God. But let me ask you a question. Please prove to me that there is not a God.”

The short answer is that there is no test tube proof that shows that there is or isn’t a God. But then again, there’s no absolute proof about many of the most important things in life. How can you prove that your special someone is your soulmate? What measurements can you use to prove what your purpose in life is?

You can’t. There isn’t any test or measurement for anything like this. So, we’re all basically people of faith. We hang the most important choices in this life based on things we just can’t prove. But it’s actually much worse. We’re betting our entire eternal existence on something we can’t prove. Or, should I say, someone we can’t prove.

So, everyone should lean in and listen to Peter when he starts talking about faith. But he’s talking about a specific kind of faith. A faith that isn’t earned. It’s not a faith that you get after collecting so many brownie points. You don’t do so many good things and then you get this kind of faith.

It’s not using your credit card so you can earn 3% back on every purchase. It isn’t like collecting frequent flyer miles or getting a card punched every time you buy a coffee. Peter’s talking about something more than your run-of-the-mill faith. He wants something a lot more valuable than plain vanilla faith for you and me.

Peter’s talking about precious faith. A kind of faith that only comes through a great big payment. A faith that’s worth a whole lot. It doesn’t just fall off a truck and we pick it up. This precious faith has great value.

And how does this precious faith become available to us? It’s not earned by what we do but made available through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. God earns it and gives it to us. This is what makes it so precious.

Think about any great piece of artwork. It’s not the stone in the statue of David that makes it so valuable, but because Michaelangelo made it. The Mona Lisa’s not precious because of the wood it’s painted on, but because Leonardo da Vinci painted it.

When God calls something precious, we should sit up and pay attention. After all, if the God of the universe says that it’s worth a lot, then it must be true. We may not think it. We probably don’t feel like it. But that doesn’t make it not true. That doesn’t change God’s opinion of you and me.

• We are precious in his sight, and he loves us – Isaiah 43:4

• The Lord God is with us – Zephaniah 3:17

• He’s all around us – Psalm 139:5

• God chooses us and we’re precious to him – 1 Peter 2:4

Peter has got this truth about receiving faith so tightly in his live that there’s only one thing to do. What can you do to pay back the God of all creation for not just making us, but also for loving us and saving us? For dying to pay the price that we couldn’t pay.

There’s only one response and that’s to become God’s servant. To give ourselves totally over to God. To sell ourselves to him, giving him total control over us. Over our lives. Over our choices and decisions. When we receive God’s payment for sin, he puts salvation and righteousness on us like a new set of cloths[2].

It’s so easy to think that becoming a servant of God is only for the truly super spiritual. People with the title of Apostle or Pastor next to their name. Or for the other very special people that we put other titles in front of their names.

But Peter’s only job before following Jesus was that of a fisherman. And he wasn’t so successful that they put him on the cover of Field and Stream either. He was incredibly average. Not a superstar, but just normal. Just like you and me. I can’t think of a more exciting and encouraging way to begin this journey through Second Peter than to understand that we receive faith. God gives it. It’s not up to us. There ain’t no way that we can earn it. It’s all from God. And that’s so comforting and reassuring. Why? Because if it was up to us, we’d mess it up. God does it all because he love us so.

Noodling Questions

• What’s your first impression about receiving faith? Explain.

• Why is it hard to receive anything?

• How is God’s love shown through us receiving faith?

[1] Unless otherwise noted, all Bible references are from the New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

[2] Isaiah 61:10