From the Writings of Dave Breese

There’s a wonderful title that has long been applied, even by the world, to Christians. To be called by that title should be seen as a great compliment to all of us who know Christ. That title is embraced by one word—“believer.” That title expresses the core of Christianity in that it points up the fact that Christianity, above all other things, is a matter of faith. The child of God, above many other ways of describing him, is a believer. Regularly we must remind ourselves that a Christian is a person who believes something.

The sinner, if he wants to become a Christian, can only become one by believing. No one is a Christian because of what he does, what he plans, what he regrets, what he aspires to—none of these make a Christian. One moves from sin to righteousness, from darkness to light because he believes something. There is, and indeed there could be, no other way.

What do I believe that makes me a Christian? I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died for my sins on Calvary’s cross. When I believe that, embracing Christ as my Savior, I am born again. There has come to pass in my life the wonderful promise that says, “He that believes on Him is not condemned” (John 3:18) . Becoming a Christian is a matter of faith—faith alone in Christ alone. It is believing that makes the difference.

Having settled this, let us remember another great truth about faith. Faith, believing, is the basis of all the other joys and blessings of life.

Most earnestly the Apostle Peter speaks to us saying, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom, having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see Him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeak­able and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (I Peter 1:7-9).

In the middle of this passage we notice a delightful two-word couplet which we do well never to forget. It is in the words “yet believing.”

The Lord is telling us here that whatever we know or do not know, whatever we can prove or cannot prove, whether we face trials or blessings, the way these things impact upon our lives is that they are fed through the conduit of faith. Whatever we have not seen, “yet believing” we rejoice with joy unspeakable. The greatest reassurance in life comes to us when we appreciate what this means. We must think about this.

First of all, we are reminded that we have not seen Christ. Not a single Christian who has lived since the days of the closing of the New Testament has seen Jesus Christ face-to-face. The world, noticing this, many times moves in for the attack. The unregenerate man says, “How can you depend upon the truth of a person whom you have not seen?” “Why do you embrace this religion that is centered upon an invisible person?” The answer is “yet believing.”

When we believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God fills our hearts with a joyous assurance of which the world knows nothing. To the world, faith is mere presumption. To the Christian, faith is the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). This is why Christianity is called “the faith which was once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

We have not been delivered from human trials. Pressures, problems, temptations, mental anxiety, physical sickness, and a hundred other pains may come upon the life of a Christian. Many religious promoters will tell us that health and wealth are inevitably the right of a Christian. If one listens to them carefully, he will note that they lie about other things as well.

The Word says, “For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:22,23).

Yes, the Christian often cries for deliverance from the same human pains that afflict the world. But, for the Christian, there is a marvelous difference. It consists in “believing.”

The Christian, because of his faith, knows that physical pains are temporal, heaven’s rejoicing is eternal. For him, the heaviest problems of life are but “our light affliction, which is but for a moment” and they work “for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Cor. 4:17).

Yes, the Christian may face physical limitations; yet believing, he can rise above them.

The Christian may endure financial reverses; yet believing, he lives by wealth from on High.

The Christian may be disappointed in the fidelity of his friends; yet believing, he embraces Christ as a “friend that sticks closer than a brother.”

The Christian may be called upon to suffer; yet believing, he knows that these very sufferings can be used to the glory of God.

The Christian may be fatigued from the toils of the way; yet believing, he receives strength from on High.

The Christian may be persecuted; yet believing, he hears the Lord say, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.”

The Christian may be forsaken by his mother and his father; yet believing, he knows that no one can take away his relationship as a child of God. Believing, he knows that the Lord will take him up.

The Christian may lose status with a fickle community; yet believing, he rejoices in his status before God as a believer, which he can never lose.

The Christian may face many a frustration; yet believing, he notes that “many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psa. 34:19).

About every concern of life, the Scripture says, “Yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

Discouragement, depression, sadness at our human circumstances should never determine, even for a moment, the state of the Christian. Rather, he has learned in everything to give thanks. Circumstances that may be thought untoward to someone else cause him to rejoice with joy unspeakable and causes his trusting heart to be filled with a sense of the glory of God.

We do well, therefore, to dispel ourselves of the notion that Christianity is merely a lifestyle, a set of religious observances, or a cultural identification. No indeed! Christianity is a faith, “the faith which was once delivered to the saints.”

In these pragmatic, phenomenonalistic days, the idea of faith can recede into the background. We then risk forgetting the beautiful truth that no one will accomplish good things unless those things stem from a great faith.

The world appears to be a difficult place, but we, yet believing, can accomplish great things for Him. Problems press upon us today, but, yet believing, we can turn them into tomorrow’s great accomplishments.

“The world appears to be a difficult place, but we, yet believing, can accomplish great things for Him.”