“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by (the) faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” (Romans 3:21–22, 27–28 KJV)
It was the faith of Jesus that made justification available. And it is faith in Jesus which takes hold of that justification. This is the law of faith. Faith begets faith. Trust awakens trust. The Father trusted the Son. The Son trusted the Father. They extended their trust to humanity. And as we trust in them… They will accomplish their perfect work in us…
WOW! Father, Son, and Spirit… trusted us enough to say… We believe that if we give You the fullness of our love, it will awaken love within in you. It will awaken that which we have implanted in you from the very beginning… i.e. On the flip side of enmity between thy seed and her Seed is a longing for our Father’s love. But we don’t know it until we see the fruits of that enmity. We don’t know it until we see the Seed of the woman crushing the serpents head by taking the spear in His side. We don’t see it til’ we see and understand that in His hatred, our Lord takes all the evil His enemies can through at Him and then prays… “Father forgive them because they know now what they are doing.”
In all of this, there is one thing we must understand about God’s belief in us… It’s not a belief in our ability. If this was the case, the cross would not be necessary. For we would be able to save ourselves. No, His belief in us is a belief in our availability. A belief that the cross would make us response… able. Or able to respond. All God needs is our response. Our Yes. Our choice. The faith of Jesus in you and me is that we would choose if He chose. That we would say yes to the Father, if we could experience the power of His profound yes on Calvary’s cross. He is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith in that when He, by faith, went to Calvary’s Cross… He awakened within all humanity… the possibility of taking up their cross and following. Before the cross… we would not have chosen Him. After the cross… choice was once again possible. Glory to God, our choice is the purchase of His choice. He whom the Son sets free, is free indeed, because he/she has been given freedom to choose. And in that choice we have been given an incredible gift. What will we do with it? What will we choose?
I choose Christ! I choose life!
