FAITH

Pulling On Both Oars

 An old Scotsman operated a little rowboat for transporting passengers. One day a passenger noticed that the good old man had carved on one oar the word “Faith,” and on the other oar the word “Works.” Curiosity led him to ask the meaning of this. The old man, being a well-balanced Christian and glad of the opportunity for testimony, said, “I will show you.”

 So saying, he dropped one oar and plied the other called Works, and they just went around in circles. Then he dropped that oar and began to ply the oar called Faith, and the little boat just went around in circles again—this time the other way around, but still in a circle.

 After this demonstration the old man picked up Faith and Works and plying both oars together, sped swiftly over the water, explaining to his inquiring passenger, “You see, that is the way it is in the Christian life. Dead works without faith are useless, and “faith without works is dead” also, getting you nowhere. But faith and works pulling together make for safety, progress, and blessing.”

—Bible Friend

Reduced Into One Law

 Rabbi Simlai in the third century noted that Moses gave us 365 prohibitions and 248 positive commands. David in Psalm 15 reduced them to eleven: Isaiah—in 33:14, 15—made them six: Micah 6:8 binds them into three: and Habakkuk reduces them all to one, namely—”The just shall live by faith.”

Faith And Doubt

Doubt sees the obstacles.

Faith sees the way!

Doubt sees the darkest night,

Faith sees the day!

Doubt dreads to take a step.

Faith soars on high!

Doubt questions, “Who believes?”

Faith answers, “I!”

—Gospel Banner

Umbrellas And Faith

 A colored church congregation had met to pray for rain to release a long dry spell. The preacher looked severely at his flock and said:

 “Brothers and Sisters, you ll knows why we is here. Now what I wants to know is—where is yo’ umbrellas?”

Epigram On Faith

•     Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible.

•     Faith is to accept the impossible, do without the indispensable, and bear the intolerable.

•     Faith is idle when circumstances are right, only when they are adverse is one’s faith in God exercised. Faith, like muscle, grows strong and supple with exercise.

•     Don’t be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated. You can’t cross a chasm in two small jumps.

—David Lloyd George

•     A little faith will bring your soul to heaven; a great faith will bring heaven to your soul.

—Spurgeon

•     Faith is not believing that God can, but that God will!

•     Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.

•     Faith in God is indispensable to successful statesmanship.

—Abraham Lincoln[1]

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