Faith: A Gift Not Given?
by Gary Henry
via WordPoints.com
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
One of the most wonderful things about the gospel is its openness. The promise of salvation is open to “whoever believes,” no matter how badly they may have wrecked their life.
However, there is a popular concept of faith which sees it as something a person cannot have unless he’s one of those to whom God chooses to give it. In one of his movies, for example, Tom Hanks plays a character who, when asked if he believed in God, replied, “Faith is a gift that I have yet to receive.” That is a gentler way of putting it, isn’t it? Rather than saying, “I don’t believe there is a God,” characterizing it as a gift not given suggests that a person wouldn’t object to being a believer, but that God has simply not given the gift.
Scripturally, Ephesians 2:8 is often used to argue that faith is imparted by God: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” However, a close look at what Paul says is that the gift is salvation, not faith. He is emphasizing that nothing we may do, even choosing to believe, is enough to earn or merit our salvation. It is a gift.
The Gospel of John, in its entirety, is a study of what faith is and how it happens. John records a number of frank statements about faith made by Jesus, including the one where He said, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24; cf. 3:16; 20:30-31).
If we do not believe the message of Christ is true, let’s accept responsibility for the choice we’ve made. Our choice to disbelieve is not due to the withholding of a gift by God — it is due to our verdict that the gospel is not credible. But this matter is too great to leave it there. Let’s not make our choice so final that we never revisit the message. From our perspective today, it may be more compelling than it appeared in the past. If we see that Jesus was, in fact, telling the truth, the question is: what are we going to do about it? The choice is ours.
One day there came along that silent shore,
While I my net was casting in the sea,
A Man who spoke as never man before,
I followed him; new life began in me.
Mine was the boat, but his the voice,
And his the call, yet mine the choice.(George MacDonald)
