Profitable Faith

Christians are witnesses of God. They are allowed to be the handwriting of God in this world and take Christian values into society. This can happen in a variety of ways. And every Christian has also received the armour with which to do it: personal salvation by faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ! For precisely this reason, we are witnesses, because it has impacted us and changes us – every day! We read in 1 Peter 3:14-17 “But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.” Sometimes it can happen that outsiders or even close relatives ask us earnestly what is the cause for our hope that this or that will change for the better? Perhaps we will be mocked, or the people who ask us will get annoyed when we say that we put all our faith in Jesus Christ. We need not be afraid to make mention of the One Who has personally become the way, the truth and the life for each of us. (John 14:6) It cannot be emphasized or expressed often enough. And even if we don't have answers for some concrete questions, for example how a particular person can continue in his life situation, we can be confident that God will reveal the right way at the right time, to us. And if we don't know what to pray for, we also have the promise in Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

All of this and more, we can witness to others and ourselves. Hope is a profitable matter which can be perceived and experienced within. To be a testimony of hope is, so to speak, a Christian life-task. And the more we wish to invest, the more we experience God's wonderful blessings in our lives and every day. We believe in the living, all-powerful God and not in a dead idol like many other people (without realizing it). This God can change everything instantly – even with you! There are no co-incidences and that which we sometimes perceive as setbacks, detours or wasted opportunities, is by no means the way God sees it. Where a door sometimes closes, another door opens elsewhere. God is never late. HE alone knows what is good for us (Romans 8:28). As children of God, we don't belong to ourselves any more (1 Corinthians 6:19) and have decided some time ago to trust God with the steering-wheel of our lives. We should remind ourselves of that. Accordingly, God will either share many of our decisions, or not. We would not live unless we also sometimes fail in order to draw lessons from such failures. But above all is God, Who sees the end-goal and knows the way. HE knows how we can reach the goal without having to swing us around like puppets on a string. Likewise with our past experiences (also the bad ones, which ultimately served its purpose) and our valuable testimonies, whereby others are able to see what has changed for the better in our lives. We don't have to have blind faith, but can rely on the Word of God. We can pray and can edify and encourage one another. Faith is a very nourishing matter and we do well, regardless of what still happens, when we live our lives in an observant manner whilst placing all our trust in God. Then everything will work out.

Jörg Bauer