Faith: A Relationship, Not A Formula

Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples”.
John 8:31

You can find a formula for doing just about anything. For example: Physics: E = mc2

Politics: “If you can’t convince the voters, confuse them.”

Finances: “Live within your income, even if you have to borrow to do it.”

But the life of faith cannot be reduced to a formula. It is more than just plugging numbers into an equation and getting the right answer.

In John 8, Jesus revealed that faith is a way of life. As Alexander Maclaren explains, faith goes far deeper than mere mental acknowledgment.

WALK WITH ALEXANDER MACLAREN
“The notion that a man who does not contradict the teaching of the New Testament is thereby a Christian is a very old and very dangerous idea.

“There are many who have no better claim to be called Christians than the fact that they never denied anything that Jesus Christ said.

“This kind of faith hardens into mere formalism, or liquefies into mere careless indifference as to the very truth that it professes to believe.

“There is nothing more impotent than creeds which lie dormant in our brains and have no influence on our lives.

“See to it that all your convictions be translated into practice, and all your practice be informed by your convictions.”

WALK CLOSER TO GOD
In John 8 those who believed Christ’s claims were called to continue in his Word, abide in his teaching, be “at home” in his truth. In that way they would be known as his disciples—learner-friends—followers whose Christianity was no mere formula, but faith on the march.

Read the Bible through once, and you are on your way to mastering the Word.

Continue in the Word, and you are on your way to being mastered by it!