FAITH is necessary for the salvation of the soul, and unless we believe God we cannot please Him, for no works which we can do are of any value until we believe what the Lord has done for us. But if we have faith to believe the Lord Himself, and to cast ourselves upon Him as our Saviour, we still need faith day by day for our joy and strength as we journey on to eternity. It is one thing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and to be saved; it is another thing to walk by faith. And sometimes we find it almost more hard to walk by faith than we did to cast ourselves on Jesus the Saviour, for life and for salvation. The cares and pleasures of life seem so to take up the heart that God is not really looked to hour by hour, and when this is the case, the young Christian becomes dull in spirit; and if the cares and pleasures which surround us all are allowed to fill up his heart, he will go back to worldly things and so become an almost useless Christian.
In the 24th verse of Heb. 11 we have a bright example of faith. There we read how by faith Moses refused the glories of Egypt. The, honors and the pleasures of the world were laid at his feet, but he said “no” to them. It must have been very hard for him to have refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, for she had rescued him when a babe from the waters of the Nile, and he had been brought up in her palace, and she had made him the great man in Egypt that he was. But he was decided for God, and said “NO” to all the offered pleasures and glories of Egypt.
Do you not find it hard to say “NO” to the things the world offers to you? How many a young Christian has stumbled and fallen because he had not faith to refuse for Christ’s sake?
When the youthful Daniel was exalted in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, the first act of faith in him of which we read was his saying “no” in his heart to the temptation of eating and drinking things which were forbidden by God. It is evident that he acted respectfully, for “he requested” that he might not take the things which were contrary to God’s law, but he was firm, and we know that he who honors God, God will honor. Daniel had faith to refuse.
Had Moses or Daniel failed to walk thus by faith, they would not have been the great servants of God they proved to be. The first step in the path of faith is usually saying “NO” —refusing for Christ’s sake. You must seek to be firm, and also respectful; and if you are thinking about the Lord, the Holy Spirit will enable you to be a follower of the great men of faith.