Chapter 9: Faith, Hope, and Love
Reformer Martin Luther taught a ton on the topic of faith because he saw that the goal of the Christian is not to mature beyond faith but to live by faith! Saving faith justifies us before God and sanctifies us in Christ as we live faithfully. But what about times when we suffer, and our faith seems so weak that we question if we even have faith? If the call of the Christian is to live by faith and my faith is struggling, what are we to do? Again, Martin Luther can help us. During bouts of extreme suffering, Luther called on his brothers and sisters in Christ to minister to him so he could lean on their faith! This is a beautiful concept we also see in Scripture: Galatians 6:2 says, "Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ." “Households of faith lean on one another in Christ.”
Another place we see this in Scripture is 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul compares each church member to a part of a human body. When one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers. But there is also an opportunity here: if the right knee is injured, the left knee can bear more weight as the right knee heals. In your times of suffering, are you going to fellow believers for support, prayer, counsel, and strengthening? You should! God has given us unity in Chirst to support one another when we struggle and to rejoice with one another in times of rejoicing! Households of faith lean on one another in Christ.