Living By Faith
Noah, Moses and Abraham, all complied with God Jehovah's requests, by way of their faith; faith in everything that God requested, knowing that everything that He declared to them was perfect and for their best interest. They conducted themselves in their faith in God and we are to do the same in our walk. Does this mean we can't question the things He asks of us? If we don't question what we don't understand, then we won't learn very much about our Creator, Jehovah. In our questioning of His ways, this is how we come to understand His perfect and wise government, and in our asking for understanding and thinking on these things, we develop wisdom by way of God's spirit, and Christ also helps us in this process by using His spirit in answering our questions and revealing Jehovah's truth in our personal studying of Jehovah's word. Once we come to understand His perfect ways then, hopefully His ways become our ways and we can live by this faith, according to our knowledge and our acceptance of all Jehovah's instructions, given to us by His Christ through inspiration to the writers of God' word.
What are His ways? This should be our very next question. God Jehovah's ways are His commands, His laws, and His precepts; in His many ways He displays His love for us and for all His creations. All this and more is presented to us in Jehovah's word, which He gave to His Son, the Lord Jesus, the Word of God, to reveal to us, in His Book, which was assembled and now presented as the Bible. However, a word of caution comes with this Book: the purity of His word is in the original text and caution is called in reading the various versions and translations. Some versions attempt to simplify or add to His word to clarify the means, according to their understanding, but all these translations are filtered through the flawed minds of man and it takes some caution in studying to find what is consistent throughout all His word, from Genesis to Revelation. First, we must believe that consistency is from the first page to the last page. A most important aspect is that one needs to read all of God Jehovah's word, in order to determine what is consistent. This can be done by most anyone, realizing that He gave us a full day on the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week, when Jehovah God rested after all His works of creation, and then He sanctified the seventh day and later made it His fourth Commandment, and most important is understanding this gift from God. This suggestion of reading all of His word may seem to be a very challenging process, but once engaged with a sincere effort, it is not only a blessing but a rewarding awakening, challenging us to learn the truth of God's word, which is revealed to us by Christ's spirit as we study its content, sometimes given in small increments, but we need to realize that Christ knows us better then we think we know ourselves. Each light ray of truth becomes a stimulant to our life. The truth is without a doubt, a sweet jewel and sparks a fire in our soul, and then, some of the things you loved before will soon appear to be dull and foolish, because... they are. A routine for this reading time is also of value, and of course prayer goes hand in hand with reading for the very best and accurate results for understanding. We can't rush these jewels of Jehovah's truth, we must be patient and allow His timing to give us insight to His wisdom and His blessings.
Christ lived the perfect righteous human life at His first advent, having been made a little less then the angels of God in order to qualify Himself to become the "Lamb of God" for our benefit, "but we do see Jesus crowned with glory and honor, who on account of suffering of death was made a little less then the angels, so that by the grace of God He might taste of death for every son." (Hebrews 2:9), therefore, Christ Jesus accomplished all His miracles and acts of righteousness by His faith, "Men, Israelites, hear these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man from God, having been approved among you by powerful deeds and wonders and miracles, which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourself also know." (Acts 2:22), faith in His Father, Jehovah, showing us that we too can live a righteous life if we put our faith into action, relying on Jehovah and on His Son Jesus to strengthen our efforts; Christ did show us the way by His personal example of His faith
. Our attempt at righteousness can be as His righteousness, if we do as Christ and live by faith, just as He did during His first advent. Righteousness is doing right, according to God's laws, precepts and commands. "blessed are those who keep judgment; he who does righteousness in every season." (Psalm 106:3), this is also for us to do, "Jehovah rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands, He has repaid me. For I have kept the ways of Jehovah, and have not wickedly departed from my God." (Psalm 18:20,21), this was David speaking. "And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the service of righteousness shall be quietness and hope forever." (Isaiah 32:17). The New Testament speaks of our righteousness "For I say to you, If your righteousness shall not exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, in no way shall you go into the kingdom of Heaven." (Matthew 5:20). Our faith is what brings us to doing righteousness "But are you willing to know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is dead." (James 2:20), accompanied by the strength Christ is waiting to give to us in our sincere efforts of doing right, "But you, O man of God, flee these things, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness." (I Timothy 6:11), and of course the first step in doing right is knowing what to do, found in its purest form, only in God's word, which is where our faith and our attention should always be focused, not in any speaker, pastor or writer of the many books about the Bible, but I would hope their words will be encouraging and directing you to the very same source of righteousness found in God's word. There were several righteous souls mentioned in the Bible, and I'm sure there were more then mentioned within its pages: Enoch and Elijah were translated to Heaven without experiencing death, Moses also entered Heaven but he did see death, but these three are the only ones noted to being translated into God's presence, in Heaven.
Noah was a righteous man, "And Jehovah said to Noah, You and all your house come into the ark, for I have seen you righteous before me in this generation." (Genesis 7:1), and Job, "And there was a man in the land of Uz, his name was Job. And this man was perfect and upright, and fearing God, and turning away from evil." (Job 1:1), also David, even though He was not perfect, "Jehovah rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands, He has repaid me." (Psalm 18:20) and lets not forget Daniel, "My God has sent His Angel and he has shut the mouths of the lions. And they have not hurt me, because in His sight purity was found in me. And also before you, O king, I have done no harm." (Daniel 6:22). The New Testament also has a few that were declared righteous, "And behold, a man named Joseph, being a counselor, a good and righteous man." (Luke 23:50), and, "And behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout, eagerly expecting the Consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was upon him." (Luke 2:25) and, "Little children, let no one lead you astray; the one practicing righteousness is righteous, even as that One is righteous." (I John 3:7). The righteous men in both Testaments were righteous because they did righteousness and so can anyone who puts it in their heart to do what is right, according to the words of Jehovah. Christ tells us, "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness! For they shall be filled." (Matthew 5:6). Does this verse fit with those that tell you that you cannot be righteous? This should be our desire and for us to pursue, and the doing expresses to others, without instructing others what righteous behavior is, and knowing that you are a Christian, this may plant a seed in the ones watching you.
The law of God is beautiful, fair and just, "So indeed the law is holy, and
the commandments holy and just and good." (Romans 7:12), and the law is our guide
to righteousness "Or brothers, are you ignorant -