Belief and the Exceptional Life

UV 1426/10,000 Belief and The Exceptional Life
And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Acts 13 v 39
The reason that most leaders and managers as well as people in general do not deeply connect with their work, their constituency and the rest of the environment is that they do not believe in what they are doing. They are not in touch with what they believe in firmly. The name of the vacuum in which they are operating is called “ the absence of belief.” A vacuum can be filled with oxygen and air or carbon dioxide and rare gases. The latter will make us suffocate and eventually die. The former will let us live on. The choice is ours. Belief is the most fundamental human faculty. Belief asks for no evidence. It comes with a gut feeling. The heart or core of man is the seat of belief. Our belief to be true and useful should be logically compatible, scientifically rational, historically verifiable, practically realistic, universally applicable and experientially empirical. The justification of our existence is derived from our belief. Belief in Christ straightens out all the areas that the law of Moses points out are crooked in our lives. Our belief aligns us with God’s will and purpose for our lives.

The Nike ad says, “ Just do it.” But scripture says, “ The just shall live by their faith.” Faith in Jesus the perfect and blemishless sacrifice made by God to perfect us makes us just or right or perfect in God’s eyes. It also means that our faith will enable us to live justly, effectively and fully. It is also a mandate to us to live justly or righteously hereafter. We are justified from “all things”, implying that nothing we have thought, said or done tarnishes us, or corrupts the image of God in which we have been re-born by faith in Jesus. The law given through Moses tells us how much we have to pay in order to live fully, wholesomely and eternally. The grace of Jesus shows us that the full price has been paid by Him. Having been saved, now it is “pay back” time, so to say. We need to truly show we are doing our best to live up to the high standards of the Lord. We need to do the just. This is the mark of our faithfulness that we are trying to do our best with our bodies, minds and spirits.
The law of Moses summed up in the ten commandments placed a huge responsibility on us- Do not lie, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not kill… Jesus in the incident of the adulterous woman proved that there is no man who has not broken these laws in one way or other. A huge burden of guilt, cumulative guilt of generations sits on our backs. Jesus by grace sets us free from this yoke and gives us the freedom once again not to sin or fall short of God’s glory. Now that we are justified or straightened out, we need to follow the straight and narrow path. We are to lead glorious or exceptional and outstanding lives, lives that honour God and serve mankind. Nothing average or mediocre is acceptable. We are to live up to standards of what is acceptable, excellent and perfect. When we fall short of these standards, His grace will fill the gaps. Whenever we meet or reach these standards, His invisible glory is made visible. As long as we are trying hard, striving to the best of our abilities, learning from all our past errors and mistakes, we are not hypocritical or leading double lives. God is willing to let us fail a million times but He is waiting for the one time we succeed.

Prateep V Philip

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