The just shall live by faith.
“I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Gal. 2:20. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him; and he cannot sin because he is born of God.” “Whatsover is born of God overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” 1 John 3:9; 5:4.
From these texts and many others that might be cited it is evident that the Christian religion is a religion of the present tense. In the Christian life, nothing counts for anything except what is present. Whatever has been in the past is valuable only for its present influence and effect; and the same is true of that which is to come.
To be born of God is to receive your life from Him, just as you received life through birth from your earthly parents. But the new birth is a continuous process, and thus something that is ever present. It is the life from the Vine coming into you, a branch. John 15:1. Thus it is a continuous flow of life from God into you. “I am the Vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” John 15:5.
If religion were a thing of the past tense, you would be turning your eyes backward instead of forward; and if it belonged to the future tense, you would always be waiting for the appointed time. In either case you would not grow. This is the great trouble with many who profess to be Christians; they always look either to the past or to the future. If to the past, they measure the possibilities of their Christian life by some past experience, If they had some genuine experience in the past, they think it could not have been genuine because they later fail; and then they become discouraged. And if to the future, they wait for a time that never comes, since they can only live in the present.
Christianity in the present tense takes you just where it finds you; and therefore you don’t need to wait or be discouraged. The Lord intends to save you and He cannot do this except by taking you just where you are now, and just where you are at each succeeding moment of your life. Each moment will become “now” as soon as you reach it. If He cannot save you in this way, He cannot save you at all. But He has assured you that He is able to save you, to the very uttermost, if you will look to Him.
Therefore the only thing to do is simply to look to Him now and believe now, without reference to your past failures or future hopes. The only starting point in the Christian life is “now;” the only point attainable is “now.” To live now is not for you to wish or resolve or anticipate now, but to believe and take. It is looking to Christ now, It is when you forget to live in the present moment, by looking at that moment to Jesus Christ for grace and strength, that you fail.
Living By Faith- E.J.W., and A.T.J.
Maranatha