Romans
4:18 - 25
Talk about
having faith! Abraham had faith
in God’s promise. God promised
that the patriarch would be the
father of so many descendants
that you would not be able to
count them all. Abraham
believed God could do this and
that God would do it.
There
was an obstacle or two. Abraham
was almost 100 years old. So
was his wife Sarah. Men do not
normally father children and
women do not normally conceive
at those ages. That did not
stop Abraham from believing. It
also did not stop God from
acting.
Abraham, indeed, became the
father of many nations. God
rewarded him not because of
something the old man did but
because of how he believed.
Abraham had faith.
Saint
Paul told the Romans that God
will also reward Christian
faith. Christians “believe in
the one who raised Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was
handed over for our
transgressions and was raised
for our justification.”
Before
we ever perform an action that
pleases God, the faith in heart
pleases God first. Faith, of
course, will inspire us to live
what we believe. But when we
first experience the revelation
of God, we respond to it in
faith.
It
takes faith to believe in God’s
promises. It takes faith to
believe that Christ is risen,
that the world could be at
peace, that one small act of
kindness can make a difference,
or that the ways of nature
might change to preserve life
of to create it. God rewards
that kind of faith.
