February 12 Faith is Key

Luke 11:52 “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
 
WHAT is our Lord’s reference to the “key to knowledge”? It is faith, isn’t it? The gospels record numerous times Jesus rewarded and blessed people who faithfully came to him. Doing so, they came to know God through the Son’s teachings, love, forgiveness and miracles. Luke 17:19 “Rise up and go; your faith has made you well.” They saw the Savior, and they believed.
    Know also the tribute to faithful people recorded in Hebrews 11. This chapter of Scripture is a memorable celebration of faith’s power to compel and propel God’s leaders to know God and to do their appointed work. Also, the apostle Paul’s epistles are filled with references to faith as the key to knowing God and being saved. I highlight the point he makes in Romans 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. And in Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Faith is God’s free key he hands to you to say, “Here is how you know me.”
    Jesus looked to the experts in the law with “woe” with great distress because they believed people were justified (made right before God) in obedience to unending laws. Their law structures had taken away the key to knowledge. In addition, Jesus watched them avoid their own laws. The synagogue system pointed to God as a restrictive institution, impossible to know. Hope was gone.
    A word of caution: We can easily think in these several “woe” lessons that Jesus was against the law. But we must remember the Son of God came to fulfill the law of God. Jesus spoke for God’s true law that pointed to the Sovereign Savior, and he refuted the mankind’s laws that pointed them to destruction. Since the Garden of Eden, Satan has tempted us away from faith in God’s law, grace and salvation. His pride temptations cause us to believe we can do better under our own law – or no law. Sadly, the key to knowledge would also become hidden in Jesus’ church. Too many churches keep the key to knowledge hidden in their rules and traditions.
    Without faith, we have no knowledge of God. We miss his love. His grace is nowhere to be found. God’s true commands become dust in the wind. Salvation becomes unreachable and even undesirable. Who can be with one he does not know? In such a mindset, our unknowing minds turn easily away from God.
    Do you doubt God? Do you wonder about some of the Bible’s teachings? Are you unsure of how to know God? Then pray for faith. Learn of God’s gracious promises. See his forgiveness. Strive to understand his passion for you. Faithfully know: Romans 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
    Yes, listen to Jesus. Faith is the key to knowing God.
 
Prayer: Grant to me, Father, the faith to know you. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.