Ask just about any teacher, and they will probably agree that the process of learning changes a student’s behavior. Learning is the vehicle to a person’s transformation. When the outcomes or results of learning any subject have been clearly defined, they will point to either concrete success or failure. In other words, if we learn well, we know the information and pass the test, if we don’t learn well, we fail it. This allows us to gauge where we are in this process of learning. It tells us whether we can move on to the next level or whether we need to go back and revisit the information, so we’ll have it successfully under our belts. Our Heavenly Father had this all figured out, and He made the process of learning an integral part of growth and maturity in every way.

It should never be lost on any of us that knowledge can lead us to a profitable destination, but we must also be aware that all knowledge about anything and everything isn’t always good for us. God didn’t create us with all knowledge already programmed into our minds; it doesn’t come standard with our packaging. We get to decide what we want to know and when we want to know it. When we’re born, we are essentially helpless. We lack the ability to formulate words, and we’re dependent on our parents or guardians for everything we need. Babies don’t know a whole lot about this new world they are born into. They must learn and grow, and this is a process that never ceases. In this way, faith and learning are very similar. As believers, God requires us to grow in faith by learning about how to use it through His Word.

Our Heavenly Father wanted children. He wanted a family and we’re it. Genesis 1:27 tells us that we are made in God’s own image, and He has given us the gift of life in order to enjoy all that He has in store for us. Heavenly Father tells us in 1Thessalonians 5:23(NLT), “Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.” He created human beings with three parts: spirit, soul, and body. The three of these provide all we need to function like God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and that’s God’s goal for us—to function like Christ. God’s Son is the mold that He used to fashion our being. God has included in our makeup all that we need to digest, process, assimilate, and make use of information. The more information about Jesus Christ that we digest, process, assimilate, and make use of, the more like Jesus Christ we will become.

Heavenly Father is a Spirit, and He communes and fellowships with what He is. Again, we are made in His image. We have a spirit, which is the highest part of who we are. We are spiritual beings having an earth experience. Our human-spirit makes it possible to commune with God and continue building the life He’s given us. The thing that we must know is that the world is packed full of information, and much of it is not good. It will not help us to be the men and women God created us to be, because it will not help to build our faith in God.

Faith in God is required to have a successful Christian life. We can’t do anything without faith in God, it is the engine of our existences. Whenever our faith is stymied or blocked, our physical reality is hindered, and we can’t accomplish God’s purpose or the personal goals we’ve set for ourselves. This is why faith is so incredibly important. It allows us to shape and mold a life and to function in that life as Jesus Christ did when he walked the earth. We can only do this by walking in the example he left for us. He teaches in John 15:4-5(NLT), “4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”

Jesus Christ is the Word of God in the flesh. He lived the perfect Will of God, and when we follow God’s Word, we can live the abundant life that Christ made available. The Word is the right information, and learning it increases our lives. Heavenly Father is full of grace and mercy, and He will not force us to choose the right information, which is His Word, the Source of all truth. Knowing His truth is the only way to build our faith, but it’s our choice, and we can’t please Him if we don’t seek to know Him through His Word. He told us in Hebrews 11:6(NLT), “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.”

We live in a visible and physical world, but our home is the spiritual realm which cannot be seen with physical eyes. It is seen through the eyes of our spirits. Hebrews 11:1 (NLT) tells us that “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” The Apostle Paul said in 2Corinthians 4:18(NKJV), “while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Our human-spirit is the highest part of who we are. It connects us to God, because remember, God communes with what He is. The Spirit to spirit connector is our faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 10:17(NLT) tells us, “So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.” We must hear the right and true information from God’s Word about Christ in order to grow in faith. 

Heavenly Father said in Hosea 4:6(NLT), “My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me.” There is much confusion and chaos in the world, and there is also much confusion and chaos within our own individual lives. All of it stems from a lack of knowledge about God’s Word, because without this knowledge, we can’t build faith in Jesus Christ, and building faith in Christ is the only way to be the men and women God has created us to be. It’s the only way to have a more than abundant life. Faith is so extremely important because faith in Christ is life itself. When we have a fully persuaded faith in the reality of our God, we will understand the power and blessings He’s given us in Christ. We can then use God’s truth to strengthen ourselves and impact the lives of others with His love. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. 

“Why Is Faith Important?”, by FMack for Springfield Fellowship © 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.