joy in a day of faith

Today is Faith Day with the Catholic board with whom I do occasional teaching, as well as with the regular board. We are being paid to celebrate faith at a special gathering to which I have to catch the bus in a short time. What a nice event to be included in. I opened my devotional today in Streams in the Desert and read the prescribed reading: "We walk by faith, not by appearance. (2 Cor. 5:7) . I read all the rest and decided it was too good not to share, but wondered if that was copping out of my own theologizing.

Then I came to the computer and found the magazine I had been reading there last night, Faith Today. In it I had enjoyed articles by two people I know, one a professor at Tyndale Seminary, and the other the director of the organization I did mission training with, Emmanuel International. Both people are great writers. The feature article for that month was on the Spiritual Formation movement, which I encountered and enjoyed at Tyndale last year, and another professor's picture popped up there too, Tyndale now being the hub of that movement in Canada and beyond. God was reminding me of a very few of the many influences in my life which have helped me along the road of faith in His provision and sovereignty, based on His sacrifice.

It seems that I am to share these readings about faith, as reminders for all of us. But of course it's not just about faith. It's about faith in Jesus Christ, and that's why the confidence that I spoke of yesterday can be real. It's not based on me, and what I do or don't, feel or don't feel. It's based on Him.

Here are the excerpts from Streams in the Desert for today:

By faith, not appearance; God never wants us to look at our feelings. Self may want us to; and Satan may want us to. But God wants us to face facts, not feelings; the facts of Christ and of His finished and perfect work in us. When we face these precious facts, and believe them because God says they are facts, God will take care of our feelings.

We must choose between facing toward our feelings and facing toward God's facts. Our feelings may be as uncertain as the sea or the shifting sands. God's facts are as certain as the Rock of Ages, even Christ Himself, who is the same yesterday, today and forever.