Focus: Forwardness Of Faith

Text: 2Cor.8:17

"For indeed he accepted the exhortation; but BEING MORE FORWARD, of his own accord he went unto you."

The Christian faith is hinged on the future designed and destined by God. Our faith tells us that in Christ we have:

*Future with God

*Adoption of sons

*Inheritance in Christ

*Treasure of eternal life

*Home in the new earth.

That is our FAITH. There's a forwardness about our faith - an earnestness, energy, readiness of mind, willingness of heart, diligence of spirit, alacrity, a mental disposition, urge and urgency to go forward, not backward.

Our faith involves:

*Thinking forward

Christians are forward-thinking people. We dream ahead. God has ability to do much more than we are able to broadly pray for or wildly imagine. We think forward. Paul says, "For I know the forwardness of your mind…" (2Cor.9:2). Be a forward-thinking person! See the future God has in mind for you! God says through Jeremiah, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end" (Jer.29:11). Think ahead! Think beyond the past and the present! Imagine possibilities!

*Looking forward

The Christian sees the invisible and sees into the future. The word of God says that "faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen." The Christian is the person who has seen and continues to see tomorrow. He sees a vision of the future and lives accordingly. The word says of Abraham, "For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Heb.11:10). Because of the future he saw, Abraham lived in tents throughout his lifetime (Heb.11:9).

*Moving forward

The Christian is ever going forward. The writer of Hebrews says that "we are not of those who draw back…" We lead a life of a forward movement. Our faith is more than a monument; it's a movement.

The Lord says to Moses, "Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they GO FORWARD" (Ex.14:15). There comes a time when going forward is the Christian's only option. The woman of Shunem saddled an ass, and said to her servant, "Drive, and GO FORWARD; slack not thy riding for me, except I bid thee" (2Kgs.2:24). For the Christian, there's no room for slacking. It's 'forward ever, and backward never.' The believer in Christ is constantly moving forward. The Scripture tells us about Isaac that he "waxed great, and WENT FORWARD, and grew until he became very great" (Gen.26:13). Isaac advanced. Samuel tells the people of God, "It is the LORD that ADVANCED Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt" (1Sam.12:6). God urges the Christian to advance. No retreat!

*Living forward

The Christian lives with tomorrow in mind. Soren Kierkegaard said that life is understood backwards, and you can only live it forward. The future tells the Christian believer how to live in the present. Paul says of Demas, "Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world," that is, life as it is in the present or the present state of things. The Christian does not lean on temporal, for "the fashion of this world is passing away." He lives for the lasting, not the passing.

*Talking forward

The Christian talks forward. He talks about the future before him. He speaks of God's future world - of the coming new heaven and new earth. He lives in the future and works in the present for a better tomorrow. His language is that of the future.

*Laboring forward

The Christian labors with the future in mind. He sows into his tomorrow or into God's eternity. Paul says, "Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was FORWARD TO DO" (Gal.2:10). The believer in Christ is ever forward to do. He is neither lazy nor reluctant to advance the future with his choices and actions. He labors for the eternal. He actualizes the impossible and realizes the future. 

It's said that planning is bringing the future into the present and doing something about it now, and that is exactly what the believer in Christ does.

I pray that you embrace the forwardness of the Christian faith. I pray that you live an active, proactive and productive life! Amen!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter