Day 22. The Work of Faith
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"This is the work of God — that you believe on Him whom He has sent." John 6:29
People are puzzled to know how they can eat spiritual bread. They cannot see it, nor take it into their hands. When they are told to work for the food that endures to eternal life — they ask how they can do it. Here Christ says that the way to work for the spiritual food, is to "believe on Him."
Of course believing on Christ must be taken in its fullest sense. Merely believing that bread will satisfy hunger — will not in itself satisfy any hungry man; he must actually eat of the bread, for its nourishing qualities to be assimilated into his system. And merely believing that Christ is able to meet all our soul's needs — will not in itself bring to us spiritual satisfaction. Christ must be received into our lives.
There are different ways of believing. One may read in a book on astronomy that the sun is some ninety million miles away. He believes the statement — but it has no particular effect on his living; it is not calculated to have any effect of this kind. But when he reads that whoever believes on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved, the truth is meant to bless him by leading him, first of all — to entrust himself to Christ for salvation, then to follow Him as his Master, then to have his unholy life transformed into beauty like Christ's. So it is with all spiritual truth. The mere receiving it is not enough — it must be assimilated, as food is assimilated in the body
The Bible verses of the morning — must become the Christian's joy, or refuge, or inspiration, or warning, or transforming influence — into the day's struggles and toils.
It should be noticed also that we are not to get this spiritual food by working for it — but only by believing on Christ. We live by faith.
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