My Faith has Found a Resting Place

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

This wonderful hymn tells it straight: it is enough that Jesus died, and that He died for me. I need nothing else. My faith is in His work on the cross that bought my salvation. If you have acknowledged that you are a sinner, and that Jesus died on the cross to save you, then you don’t need to trust in anything else. You don’t need a device, or a creed, you just need the living God. Isn’t that a great assurance? It is your faith that saved you, not the reciting of a prayer or the practice of a “device” – God saved you because of your faith, and as Paul reminds us, it is His gift.

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8

As sinners who have been saved by God’s grace as a result of our faith, we press on to live in righteousness. As Paul reminds the Philippians, this righteousness isn’t one we can earn by following the rules or getting “it” right all the time, and it certainly is not within us – this righteousness is a result of faith in Christ.

More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Phil. 3:8-11

What is your faith resting on today? If it’s on any thing other than Jesus Christ, you will be disappointed. If it’s in any person other than Jesus Christ, no matter how perfect or holy he/she seems to you now, you will ultimately be disappointed. Paul is clear in his letter to the Corinthians: faith must be in God and not man.

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. I Cor. 2:1-5

The writer to the Hebrews tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God. (Heb. 11:6) My heart’s cry is the same as the apostles in Luke 17:5, "Lord, increase my faith!"

My Faith has Found a Resting Place
Words by Eliza E. Hewitt

My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device or creed;
I trust the ever living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.

Refrain
I need no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.

Enough for me that Jesus saves,
This ends my fear and doubt;
A sinful soul I come to Him,
He’ll never cast me out.

My heart is leaning on the Word,
The living Word of God,
Salvation by my Savior’s Name,
Salvation through His blood.

My great Physician heals the sick,
The lost He came to save;
For me His precious blood He shed,
For me His life He gave.