"I HAVE KEPT THE FAITH"

Paul W. Swets | January 22, 2022

Excerpt from The Coming Glory: Hope Now for Life After Death

When the Apostle Paul was preparing for his departure from this life, he said “I have kept the faith.” Seriously?

Consider this: How much faith, if any, would you have under these circumstances?

• Imprisoned without just cause

• Beaten and left for dead

• Shipwrecked and floundering in a raging sea

• Rejected by your own people

• Painful physical ailment that much prayer does not remove.

Yet Paul endured all this and said, "I have kept the faith."

To keep the faith means to commit, to persevere, to maintain faith in Jesus even when the fight is hard and the failures many. Why? Simply because of what God did.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son,

that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:16

Paul defines what belief in Jesus means.

If you confess with your mouth that

Jesus is Lord

and believe in your heart that

God raised him from the dead,

you will be saved.

Romans 10:9

Does the Bible imply that all we need to do is just say the words and all will be well? No. What we confess with our mouth needs to come from the heart, the very core of our being. When our confession of faith is authentic, we will aim to believe and act in a way that fits a follower of Christ.

None of us have believed or kept God’s commandments perfectly. But we can take heart because Jesus paid the penalty for our sin through his death on the cross and offers forgiveness to all who trust in him.

God demonstrates his own love for us in this:

While we were still sinners,

Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

There is therefore now no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1

It’s never too late to ask Jesus to help you trust him, to declare with heart and mind as the early Christians did: “Jesus is my Lord!” This heartfelt affirmation enables you to experience the refreshment of God’s complete forgiveness of your sin.

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out,

that times of refreshing may come from the Lord….

Acts 3:19

Have you got faith? I'd love to hear from you. You may email me at dr.swets@gmail.com.

Paul