PERSEVERE IN YOUR FAITH
Every true born-again Christian has been called by God to live by faith, as the Holy Scriptures declare: ..but the just shall live by his faith." (Habakkuk 2:4) "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written,
‘The just shall live by faith.’” (Romans 1:17)
"But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for ‘the just shall live by faith.’” (Galatians 3:11)
It is, in fact, impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6)
Anyone who wants to be saved must receive God’s offer of salvation through faith. After that, they are to live new lives in Christ—all by faith. There is no getting around it. Living by faith means walking in complete and continual trust in God as He moves in your life through that faith. We know that God moves in people's lives when they put their faith in Him. As an example, many times when Jesus healed someone in the New Testament, He told them:
"Your faith has made you well." (Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:34, Luke 17:19, among others)
You start walking by faith when you are born again, and it becomes a journey until the very end. More so, God desires us to be faithful in our walk with Him. That’s why He condemns spiritual adultery:
"Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." (James 4:4)
Just as a married man and woman in the covenant of marriage must stay faithful to each other and not pursue other lovers, those who belong to Jesus must remain faithful to Him and not love the world. Abiding in the way of the Kingdom and doing God’s will as a lifestyle—truly committing to stay faithful in your walk with God—is what we call faithfulness. But if someone starts to shrink back and return to the world and the things God hates, that is unfaithfulness, and God condemns it. So we must continue to be faithful to God to the very end. If you stumble, God gives grace so that you can get up, confess your sin, obtain forgiveness, and keep moving forward in greater faithfulness. You must be faithful to the very end, as the Word of God says:
"For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised." (Hebrews 10:36)
"But he who endures to the end shall be saved." (Matthew 24:13)
We are called to persevere to the very end, even in the face of trials. If you look at the early believers mentioned in Hebrews 10, they are described as having gone through fiery trials—such as having their property confiscated and being imprisoned—yet they were urged to persevere, to endure in the faith to the very end, and not depart from it. God, who called you, is faithful. He is able to keep you from falling away. He is able to finish the work He began in you when He saved you. However, you are called to be faithful to Him so that through this cooperation, God’s work will be brought to completion. Even in John 15, Jesus says that we should remain in Him as He remains in us so that we may bear fruit:
"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me." (John 15:4)
The word "remain" means to reside, abide, or stay. Jesus says that if we don’t abide, we will not bear fruit. So it is with faithfulness—you must continue in the faith so that God can bring His work to completion in you.
