Friday's Reading: Romans 4

Believe. Such a powerful word. Paul uses it here to talk about the launching pad to righteousness. "For the scriptures tell us, "Abraham believed God, so God declared him to be righteous." (v3) "This happened because Abraham believed in God." (v17) "When God promised ... Abraham believed him." (v 18) "Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise." (v 20) Now this is for us today ... "God will also declare us to be righteous if we believe in God, who brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead." (v24)

I remember my freshmen year in college was filled with deep thinking (it went downhill from there). My friend, Brad, was dating a girl back home who was convinced that all she had to do was "believe" in God. She didn't have to follow his ways, or live a life that was according to his "rules" or "guidance." All she had to do was "believe." I remember many of Brad's friends looking over scripture to prove to her that she was off-base in her line of thinking. We weren't trying to be legalistic about it all but we knew there had to be more than just a simple act of belief involved. That relationship eventually crumbled.

Believe. "accept as true, have faith in the existence of, have confidence in, have rust in the advisability of, pretend" (Oxford Dictionary). I think that Abraham was declared righteous because of all of these understandings of the word except the last one ... "pretend". I think this was Brad's girlfriend's issue ... she wanted her own life but also wanted to pretend about her belief in God. We can't do that. It's better off to have no faith in Him than to pretend you do!

Our belief in God will do many things in our life:
- Cause us to stand alone; rather than be in the crowd
- Cause us to do what is right; rather than was is popular or easy
- Cause us to love what others find unlovable
- Cause us to accept what others find unacceptable

Paul says that Abraham never wavered in his belief in the promise of God. He never saw this promise fulfilled in his lifetime - but he never stopped believing in God nor the promise of a righteous nation. In fact, Paul said in verse 20, his faith grew stronger.

Are you a pretender or a true believer? Is your faith growing stronger or is it wavering in the difficult times? Are you living your life as one who truly believes? These are tough words for me today. I'm with you in the struggle of trying to understand the power of believing.