Hebrews 11:1

Faith is based on evidence.  Faith is not self-will.  Faith is from God in the measure of grace given us.

There is no such thing as blind faith.  Faith is not a guessing game.  Beyond reasonable doubt, faith is the assurance that what has been promised will come to pass in their proper time because these are anchored in confidence in God rather than in self-confidence.

Faith is based on evidence in the testimony of creation, the hand of God in history, in the lives of men who lived for God, in fulfilled prophecies, in the inerrancy of God’s Word.

Faith is reliance in the gospel of the Lord Jesus and commitment to the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit, and results in the outpouring of good works which pleases and glorifies God.

Psalm 73:1

Title:  My feet had almost slipped

To a point we must admit that many Christians are perplexed with their situation in life.  This could be traced to a comparison between the flourishing state of the wicked and the struggles of the godly man as perceived through envious and troubled eyes.  We cannot set aside the premature conclusion that arrogant men are prospering, knowing also that God does well for His people who resemble Him, but this must never lead us to feel as if our feet were almost gone, or lose our footing that we are no longer planted in the truth, and reckon that the Lord is not doing right.  Up to this point in our intolerant understanding, we have to grasp the final destiny of both through the faculties of worship, prayer, meditation, for us to remain grounded that the struggles of an obedient believer is just a prelude to eternal glory, as the carefree life of the wicked is prelude to their eternal condemnation.

Genesis 1:27

Title: In his image

We were born bereft of knowledge, but ingrained with the capacity to worship God, know ourselves, the universe and its mechanics and mysteries, preserve the integrity and well-being of the earth and its inhabitants and resources.

The tragedy of life is in not growing into this design, but being independent of it. Distancing himself from God, man now has to complicate his life in order to make it meaningful, whereas God has ordained a simple lifestyle for man so he might dwell in the complexities of God.

So when the humanist determines for himself what is relevant, nothing is.

Philippians 1:21

Title: To live is Christ, and to die is gain

Only a person, who has a firm understanding of an eternity in the presence of God, as if he’d been invited to preview heaven, will have the dignity and joyful expectation and the courage to put a worth to an event that offers only dread and fear to most people. Actually, the extinction of physical life is not the gain itself, but the realm of existence into which the experience introduces a believer once his term on earth expires.

1 Corinthians 15:14

Title:  If Christ has not been raised

The resurrection is inevitable.

The resurrection is the proper witness to the mercy and grace of God to impart eternal life.  It involves the same burst of energy in the primary act of creation.  It contains the potential of the breath of life from the Spirit of God.  It is overflowing with the abundance of the vineyard of pleasure. It is full of expectation for the sound of the footsteps of the Lord God as he walks in the cool of the day in the garden of delight.

ORATORIO

Our love dwells

in its own light,

blossoms in its own garden

of delight,

moves about in an

unguarded cadence,

listens to the silence

of stars in heavenly places,

dances the waltz of the wind

on warm hills

and leaning grass,

plays in the rain

from higher clouds,

touches lower clouds

with earthly sounds,

sings the masterpieces

of our best years,

comes home,

in and out

the day,

and 
settles

there.