Jesus: The Author and Finisher of Our Faith

Lariat Rope Cross, http://jusropenkreations.com/crosses/largeropecross.html

“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” –Hebrews 12:1-3, NKJV

Faithfulness is God’s idea. Jesus Himself is the author and the finisher of our faith. He invented our faith. He sustains our faith. He finishes our faith. Our faith has its being and its completion in Jesus.

Our relationship with Jesus, our faith in Him, as well as our lives, can be complex and challenging. God calls us to live our lives, to run the race, with endurance. We are to live our faith looking to Jesus. He alone will enable us to live out our faith.

It is Jesus who is the author of our faith. He has initiated a relationship with us. As it says in 1 John 4:19, “We love, because He first loved us.” God has invented our faith, He invites us into it, He has crafted it, spoke it into being poetically, written it out creatively, scripted it and brought it to life through His dramatization of it.

It is Jesus who will finish our faith. He will bring our faith to completion. God finishes what God starts. God is working in us and will complete His work of faith in us. As Paul said, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6, ESV).

Prayer: Jesus, you are the ‘author and perfecter of our faith’. Lord Jesus, it was fitting for you, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, to bring your children to glory, as the captain of our salvation, perfectly through your own sufferings and sacrifice on our behalf. Help us to run this race of faith and life with your endurance, trusting in you alone to be the finisher of our faith. Amen.  

(Prayer adapted from Hebrews 12:1-3, NASB, and Hebrews 2:10, NKJV).

If you would like to support our work in Haiti, please click here.

Do Whatever Jesus Tells You To Do

Cana, photo by Seetheholyland.net

“[Jesus’] mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’” –John 2:5

What do you believe about Jesus? What does your life say about what you believe about Jesus? These are very important questions for us to consider and for us to ask ourselves as we follow Jesus with our lives. 

One of the greatest messages in the New Testament, in my opinion, comes from Mary, the mother of Jesus, in John 2:1-12. Here at a wedding in Cana in Galilee, Mary asks Jesus to do something about a dire situation at the wedding feast. The wine had run out in an embarrassing turn of events at the feast and this threatened to end the festivities prematurely.

Jesus responds with initial resistance, saying to Mary, “My hour has not yet come.” Then, “His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you’” (John 2:5). It is at this point that Jesus does His first recorded miracle. He takes the six water pots, which were for ceremonial washing and cleansing, holding about 120-180 gallons of water, and He turns the water into wine. This blesses the couple and the occasion and the celebration is able to continue.

In the book of James the author states that you can tell a lot about what someone believes by looking at what they do. James says, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds (James 2:18).” Our beliefs affect how we live our lives and how we live our lives illustrates what it is we believe.

So, what do our deeds say about what we believe about Jesus? If someone were wondering if we were following Jesus, could they tell if we were following Jesus by looking at our lives and by looking at where we are headed?

Just this week the printer was acting up in the teacher workroom and it would not print my work, no matter what I did to try and solve the problem. When I went to the printer to assess the situation, it said, “printing,” but it was not printing. I took no comfort in the fact that the printer was telling me that it was printing, when it was in fact doing nothing of the sort. What the printer was saying and what it was doing were two completely different things.

I proceeded to reflect on this “printer incident” for the rest of the day. I thought to myself, “This is exactly what we do in our relationship with Christ sometimes.” I wondered if Jesus was looking at my life and asking, “Are you really following me?” We say we are Christ followers, and if someone looked at our label it may read, “Following Jesus,” but are we really following Jesus? Do our lives say that we are following Jesus? Are we doing whatever He says to do?