Doctrines of Prayer, Faith, and Peace by James Hastings: Hastings, James - Doctrine of Faith: 47. Chapter 10: The Growth Of Faith

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Doctrines of Prayer, Faith, and Peace by James Hastings: Hastings, James - Doctrine of Faith: 47. Chapter 10: The Growth Of Faith



TOPIC: Hastings, James - Doctrine of Faith (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 47. Chapter 10: The Growth Of Faith

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THE GROWTH OF FAITH.

ALTHOUGH faith is of Divine origin and a gift of God, nevertheless it is not at first perfect or complete. There is room for it to grow in strength and power, and apparently this growth may be indefinite. For after the Corinthians had been living the Christian life for some time, Paul expresses the hope that with the growth of their faith they may come to entertain a more just opinion of him, so that he may extend his missionary work to other fields. On the other hand, concerning the Thessalonians he feels that he ought to thank God continually for the exceedingly great growth of his converts’ faith; for the Spirit’s control over their lives has become greater, and in fellowship with Christ they have acquired a fuller and deeper knowledge of God. The “strong” brethren in the Roman community were also Christians of mature and robust faith. Faith might grow in depth and power, as it clearly had in the case of the Thessalonians and some of the believers in Rome.

Such growth indeed was the normal result of living in Christ, and is to be expected in the case of all Christians. For faith is a life, not simply a state or condition. And what is life but a constant moving and going forward? If our faith stands still, without any sign of improvement and increase in strength, it is a sure sign that there is something wrong in it. A child can no more remain always a child than faith can remain the same in a person year after year; there is but one thing that can stop the child’s growth, and prevent it from becoming a man or woman, and that is the child’s death. As long as it lives it must go on growing: and our faith, if it is a real living faith, must go on growing also.

Much of our faith, so-called, is only a beating of the air, and not really an advancement of the soul; we profess a great deal which has no practical bearing on our own lives. Yet all true believing is becoming, and a man cannot be a follower of the Lamb, in the real sense of the term, without his becoming moment by moment a different man; he alters his stature, not indeed by taking thought thereunto, but even as the lilies grow; and adding together the receiving and the becoming, we find that we are the children of God.

If we take a stranger to view the Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge, it is possible that he will say that the outside is the finest part of it, and that it looks best from a distance; or he may say that the entrance-hall, with its display of coloured marbles and polished granite, is the best part of the museum. Certainly there are many that look at Christianity in this manner; thinking it perhaps a magnificent ideal of life, especially as seen in history; or perhaps as seen at some distance, as we view Sunday from the other days of the week. And others there are who think that the entrance of the Christian life is the best part of it, who say honestly from experience that the beginning of the life was the best for them. The reason being that they stopped there; otherwise people never could think that the happiest part of the life was that immediately consequent on conversion; for in reality the path of the just is a shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day. It is not like one of those ancient Egyptian temples of which one reads, in which we pass from daylight to shade as we enter, and into deeper gloom as we approach the secret shrine. [Note: J. R. Harris, Memoranda Sacra, 20.]