Speaker: Bonnie Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.  But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say? John 5:46-47

When American first-lady, Eleanor Roosevelt was asked, “Do you think that the work of the world is carried on by faith?” she said, “Yes!”  In any great work, a certain amount of trust and faith in others we work with, is essential.  In a marriage, two people believe in each other and trust everything to each other.  They leave their families of origin and enter the great adventure of life to stand or fall together, believing that good will come of their relationship.

Without loving trust, relationship just isn’t possible.  When this faith is shattered by betrayal, the pain of not being valued by another, is searing.

Eleanor Roosevelt knew how it feels when that faith is betrayed.  Although she never talked about it publicly, she knew the pain of marital betrayal when her husband was unfaithful to her.

Faith is essential to all of our relationships in life.  If you are a businessperson, you may reason that faith does not really figure in business, but reconsider: you have faith that your bank deposits will be available when you want to make a withdrawal.  You say, “This is no act of faith, since the government insures my deposit.”  True.  You have faith not only in the bank, but in the government as well, believing they will stand behind the deposits they insure.

The business world may seem cold and technical but underneath all of the relationships you have with business partners is a bedrock of faith.  Why, then, should we think it unusual to exercise faith in the spiritual realm?  But, is faith in God—in the spiritual realm—any different from faith in your marriage partner or in a business relationship?  When you got married, you exchanged rings as symbols of your vows. This means that you, in all sincerity accepted and believed what your marriage partner said, and in return, you placed complete faith in that person. You had no guarantee that the future would forever be wonderful.  You believed it would be based on the character of the person you married.

When you enter into a relational or business contract you accept the word, either oral or written, of the person with whom you’re contracting, right?  It is the same when you enter into a relationship with God.

In His Word, the Bible, God tells us much about our lives.  He makes agreements—covenants as they are called in Scripture—with common, ordinary men and women, whereby He promises, “if you do this, then I will respond by doing that.”  While some of those agreements were made with specific individuals such as Adam, or Moses, or to ancient Israel, many of them are made to anyone who will trust God and respond in faith. They are what you might call the “if” statements of Scripture.

Surprising as it may be to you, the earliest covenants that we find recorded in the Bible are similar to ones which were made by the Hittite peoples in the ancient world.  They contain preambles, promises and agreements and lists of contracting parties. For thousands of years, men and women have found that God keeps His word, which means you can trust Him to honor His promises.  Perhaps one of the most encouraging “if” statements in the Bible is found in Deuteronomy 4:29: “And if you search for [God]… with all your heart and soul, you will find him.”  He is calling you to that very search today.

In the final analysis, all of life is contingent on this thing we call faith.  It is the glue of life.  Even your spiritual salvation rests upon an act of faith as you accept what Christ has done for you and place your faith in Him as God’s Son.

Resource reading: Deuteronomy 4:26-40