Imagine this scene with me. An athlete has just won a gold medal. He reached the pinnacle of success, only after having faced an incredible struggle to get there. A reporter places a mic in his face and asks, “What kept you strong through all of your difficulty?” The athlete responds, “My faith kept me going.” If you’re like me, you’ve heard this response a lot. It’s genuine, heartful, and seems spot on, but, as I want to show, it misses the mark.
What keeps us going isn’t our faith. The Bible never instructs us to place our faith in faith, because that would mean that our salvation depends on our faith. What an unsettling thought! The object of our faith, the wind in our sails, the strength in our fight is not our faith but Christ alone. We are saved through faith, not because of faith. Such subtle distinction may seem petty, but it isn’t. Christ saves—nothing else. As Spurgeon remarks, “Trust not your trust—but trust alone in what Christ has done.”
If you place your faith in faith, your faith is misguided. That faith only disappoints. However, if your faith is in Christ alone, you will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint (Isa 40:31). So, next time someone asks you what keeps you strong through the turmoil of life, don’t say, “My faith,” but instead say, “Christ alone.”
Pastor Chance
