Diligent in Faith

The Christians in Palestine have been diligent in love. However the author wants them to mature in their faith and patience so that they might be fully assured (have total knowledge) of the hope and promise of God that is before them. As we consider this idea for the next few weeks we are going to be examining in detail each of these key components. Faith, patience, knowledge and hope. We are going to begin at the beginning, faith. It is the one thing that sets true Christianity apart from all man-made religions. Man-made religion is ALWAYS going to be works based as the key component. It is always going to focus on what we can DO to make God notice us, to make God love us, to make God reward us. Man is always looking for something that he can do to set himself apart, to make sure that he is in control of his destiny, his soul's destination, his life, his … but faith? Faith is the simple truth that we cannot, that we will not, that we do not and that any hope we have is totally found in the mercy and truthfulness of God. Faith is the knowledge that if God is false, we have no hope at all; and if God is true, then we need no other!