“It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you.” – Timothy Keller*
While most believers would objectively agree with Pastor Tim here; It’s been my observation that there are very sincere believers out there who often don’t speak that way in personal dialog. Faith is often spoken of as effort “you have to really, really, really believe with your whole heart.” I know those folks mean well, and I’m sure the added qualifiers are a result of having watched seeds get choked out by thorns and thistles, but it’s good to be reminded that Christ Himself compared saving faith to simply “looking” at the serpent in the wilderness (Numbers 21). Paul calls it a “free gift” 3 times in Romans 5 and 6 and writes over and over that we can’t earn it, we are saved only by God’s Grace through the person and work of Jesus.
This quotation reminds of an illustration I first heard attributed to F.B. Meyer. Imagine that Noah, who preached to his contemporaries as he spent 100 years building the Ark (2 Peter 2:5), instructed them to hold on to pegs that he had affixed to the sides of the ark. Imagine that his message was “If we can hold on tightly enough as the waves and wind buffet the ark, we will be saved.” We of course know that Genesis 7:16 says, “Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind him.” Their salvation was totally in the Lord’s hands – as is ours!
YBIC,
Pastor Scott
*Pastor Keller was part of a group that I didn’t always agree with, but I wholeheartedly agree with this quotation.
Grace Notes 