The Key to a Successful Christian Life

When I was growing up, my dad was a salesman who worked on commission. That was great when he had a huge real estate deal in the works worth thousands of dollars in commission, such as the time he was involved in the sale of the Anaheim property to Disneyland. That was a “feast” time for our family. But we had our share of “famines” too.

I remember as a kid how quickly a change in circumstance could alter my mood. My father would have some big deal percolating and I’d get pretty excited. I’d think, Oh, boy. Dad’s deal is in escrow, and when it goes through we can buy this and that, and we can go here and there ... and then the deal would fall through, and so would my hopes.

My dad’s faith was always stronger than his circumstances. He had this little motto—just two words—framed and positioned on his desk. “All things,” it said. And whenever disappointments came along, my dad would look at those two words and he’d remember the rest of the verse, and the promise God gave within it: All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

A motto like that takes real faith to believe because it’s not our natural reaction to difficulty. When we go through a crisis, we don’t just automatically say, “Hey, it’s no big deal. Everything will work out in the end.” We’re more likely to cry, “Oh no! There goes our future!” But my dad’s faith was real. He truly believed in the promise of “All things,” and his life showed it.

Faith is the key to a successful Christian life. It enables you to reach out and accept the gift of salvation. And it is faith that takes you by the hand and walks you from one level of spiritual maturity to another. That is why the Word of God says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6).

But what is faith? Where does it come from and how does it work? What does it accomplish? Why does it please God?

Those are a few of the questions I want to explore in this book. If faith is so crucial to a joyful walk with God—and it is—then we had better learn how to begin exercising the faith we’ve been given. Without a vibrant faith, the Christian life soon becomes tedious, burdensome and discouraging instead of being marked by joy, peace, hope and power as God means it to be (Romans 15:13).

Faith means believing in God’s sovereignty. It means trusting He is on the throne, in command of all things, and working through every circumstance that comes our way. When we have that kind of faith, we have peace in the midst of trials. But when we forget God’s sovereignty, troubling circumstances cause us to despair. We survey the landscape with our eyes instead of with our faith.

Smith, Chuck. Faith, edited by Steve Halliday and Shannon Woodward, 1st ed., The Word For Today, Costa Mesa, CA, 2010, pp. 3–6.