Supplementary Lesson 7: Living by Faith

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Introduction

Learning to live by faith can be confusing at times. We tend to vacillate between two extremes: taking things into our own hands, and becoming passive.

On the one hand, when we forget that God is in complete control, governing all things, we may tend to take things into our own hands. For example, a student may cheat in order to get a good grade on a test. Or an evangelist may try to manipulate a person to make a decision to believe in Christ.

On the other hand, sometimes we may just passively let things happen because we think, "If God predestines everything, why should I make an effort to change things?" For example, a person may be sick, but refuses to go to the doctor or take medicine, because he believes it won't make any difference; he prefers to just "trust God." Or a Christian may refuse to share the gospel, because God has already chosen those who will be saved.

The story of Abraham can help us understand what it means to live by faith, avoiding these two extremes. While Abraham is an example of faith, he was not perfect and he had to learn this over his lifetime.

First, he began to doubt that God would actually give him a child with his wife Sarai. They were both old, and they decided to "help" God a little in fulfilling the promise of a multitude of descendants.

Read Genesis 16:1-4.

QUESTION:

When Abraham decided to have a child with Hagar, what attitude do we see in him?