Faith Teaches

We've heard it said, "experience is the best teacher." Oh, can we even count the things we have learned by experience! Spiritually speaking, I suggest experience is the "only" teacher. Sixteen years ago this week, my grandfather (Daddy Bill, we called him) went to his eternal home. I cannot imagine a kinder, more gentler and God-fearing man than Daddy Bill. I cherish many memories of time spent with him; so many wonderful things I learned by watching and listening to him. One thing, however, I could not inherit from this great man: his faith. Had he tried to gather it all and carefully put it into one of his amazing wooden creations, then personally hand it to me, he could not do so. Ephesians 2:8 plainly says, "by grace you have been saved through faith."  Yes, amazing is God's grace yet it is to the person who believes - yes, one individual - it is to him or her that God gifts His great salvation. To put it bluntly ... God has no grandchildren - only children. In that very moment, when faith becomes personally real - when exercised and nurtured - that faith becomes [what is called] ... experiential faith: a faith that teaches us to "walk by faith and not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). You see, it is faith-through-experience that teaches us to trust Him more and more. Faith teaches!