Unfeigned Faith
by Dr. John Hunter
A ll op us have personal problems, known only to us and not shared with the world. There may be sor rows, tragedies, and failures which cause tears and fears. In I Timothy 1:4, Paul writes that he is mindful of the youthful follower’s tears. We are not told what these tears might be. It could have been because of some personal failure or difficulties which had overtaken him. In the second chapter Paul exhorts Timothy in the faith, “Therefore en dure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” It appears to me that Timothy was a man facing up to problems. What a blessed word of as surance the Holy Spirit gave us through the apostle when we are ex horted, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, according to the power of God” (I Tim. 1:7, 8). According to all information we have, this is the last epistle Paul ever wrote, and yet, from prison, he could speak with such forcefulness about hardships and tribulations. He himself had every cause to be fearful and despondent. No doubt he was cold, lonely and hungry. Everything was against him in the way of cir cumstances. His execution could come at any moment. What an encourage ment it is to see his strength, faith and confidence in the Lord. What a tender heart this great man had in telling Timothy, “I am mindful of thy tears.” When he dealt with the tears and fears he began with the subject of faith (I Tim. 1:5). In our own lives, if we have problems and difficulties, the thing that matters most is not the situa tion in which we find ourselves, but basically our faith. Here he is talking
about “unfeigned faith,” which means that which is undisguised and not hypocritical. What is your faith really like? If it cannot buoy you up on the waters of stormy adversity, you need to exam ine your own heart and life. The quality of our faith is judged by how deeply our roots go down in trusting the Lord. If our faith is only super ficial when the blustering winds of life begin to blow we will soon be toppled into the dust of discourage ment. One of the things which has inter ested me in America are the lovely artificial flowers. Sometimes it is dif ficult to tell them from the real and genuine. Unlike those which have ac tually grown, the plastic variety have never had any roots. Many people have faith just like these artificial flowers. It may look lovely and at tractive but it isn’t real and there is no life. You see, it is not how much, but rather the quality of your faith. How deeply have your roots gope down? Are they in contact with the living Word of God? Only then will t m S r iB r 1
Dr. John Hunter (left), member of the Torch- bearer's Fellowship, England, was presented a special honorary doctorate by Biola during recent graduation exercises on the Campus. With him is Dr. Samuel H. Sutherland, Biola president.
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