Today’s Scripture: Acts 13:48

“And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”

If there’s any one truth Paul seems to feel strongly about, it’s the absolute antithesis between justification by faith and justification by keeping the law. This is why faith must involve a complete renunciation of trust in one’s own goodness (keeping the law), as well as a total reliance on Jesus Christ and his righteousness.

The question then arises: how do we get faith? Does it come simply as an intellectual response to the Gospel message? Or do those of us who share the Gospel with others need to master the art of persuasion or learn the technique of “closing the sale”? How does one get faith?

The short answer is that faith is the gift of God. It has to be. There’s an old adage that “a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” Have you ever tried to convince someone to change his mind when that person didn’t want to change? You may marshal well-documented reasons and unassailable facts, but unless that person is receptive to you, he will not change. He just mentally “digs in his heels.” Now if this is true in the ordinary affairs of life, how much more is it true in the spiritual realm?

God does not believe for us, but through his Spirit he creates spiritual life in us so that we can believe. Faith is a gift of God. It’s part of the whole salvation package that God gives to us through the work of Christ for us and the work of the Holy Spirit in us. It’s not our contribution, so to speak, to God’s great plan of salvation. God does it all. Faith is part of the unsearchable riches of Christ. (Excerpt taken from The Gospel for Real Life)

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