FAITH IS A TWO-WAY STREET

Monday: 11th May, 2020

Acts 14:9 This man was listening to the words of Paul, who looked intently at him and saw that he had faith to be healed.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (HEB. 11:1). Therefore, there is a sense of invisibility associated with faith as a conviction that proceeds from the inside-out. But we see another dimension where the direction is reversed and faith proceeds from the outside-in, for ‘faith comes by hearing the word of God’ (Romans 10:17)

This is what becomes evident in the life of the paralysed man whose faith was set alive upon hearing the preaching of Paul and Barnabas. That was outside-in. Nonetheless, there is a complementation of processes between the two directions where as we read, what went from the outside-in, created the inside-out response.

If faith was thus merely an invisible concept, how was Paul able to see that the paralysed man had ‘faith to be healed?’ My dear, the invisible conviction that is associated with faith is sometimes thought of as an intangible and abstract concept. But that can produce a tangible expression and combination of actions which make it visible by generating concrete results.

St James write ‘show me your faith without works and I will show mine with what I do’ (2:18). So just like seeds are sown while waiting for rain, faith is not invisible: it is a tangible expression of actions in anticipation for things that are yet unseen. Therefore, let your faith be seen.

#sly