Faith is far-sighted in two directions:it looks back to Christ's work on the cross and onward to the fulfilment of God's promises to His people of their eternal inheritance. The backward look sees Christ making an offering for sin on the cross, doing a work which saves every believing sinner. Every Christian who has read Scripture knows that Christ bore his sins in His own body on the tree. Faith sees a work done there which makes sure the eternal salvation of every believer. Faith believes in Christ in a way that is unlike any other kind of believing. Christ is real to faith, more real than anything we can see or hear in the present. "Whom not having seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Pet. 1:8).

This one verse of Scripture shows how Christianity, evangelical Protestant Christianity, differs from any and every other religion on earth. No other has an unseen Saviour to love, believe in, and rejoice in. Many real believers have never learned to avail themselves of all there is in this one bit of Scripture, out of the great Word of God. It shows three parts to the Christian's experience; 1, loving Jesus Christ; 2, believing in Him; 3, rejoicing in Him. Loving, believing, rejoicing:that is what God has for every human being who will accept His grace. Faith is really the foundation of it all; Christ has to become real to us by faith before we can love Him, believe and rejoice in Him.

By faith Christ is a reality to us, so real that we love Him above all else within our knowledge. As one walks in the light that shines from Him upon our path and in our hearts, there is growth in patience, meekness, and all that makes up a believer's life. Christ cannot abide in us thus without our showing out His presence within us. We walk, we grow, we learn; we become more like Him in our ways, our thoughts, our lives. He bids us watch; He bids us pray; He gives us all we need for the path we walk in. Christ can meet for us every emergency, can make up for every loss, can give us so much more than He takes away from us.

Faith delivers people from becoming careworn, prematurely old; it gives people real peace as they are occupied with Christ. Faith in Christ grows fast in trials, needs, weakness, loss. God takes things out of our hands here that He may fill them with things which are to last for ever. We imagine what we have here is ours, belongs to us; but the things we have here are not ours really; they are God's things committed to us for a little to use for Him. They are for us to use a little while, but not to KEEP. This is true of all we have here, of every kind of possession. One buys, or is given something; he calls it his, and it is his to USE-that is all. It may be clothes, a house, a car, any personal belonging; it is just ours to use for a time, but our own possessions are ETERNAL. The portion of faith is "an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you."

Faith has things of its own, not to use for a time and then leave them; faith's possessions are for ever, they belong to us, they are ours. Not for a year, for a season, not even for a lifetime; not until they wear out, or are out of style, or until we tire of them. No; what are really ours we shall never tire of nor will they wear out. Perfect, real, satisfying, there will be no flaws in them, nothing imperfect, nothing to mar our joy of ownership. They will be His gift to us, so will not disappoint us, and we shall never tire of our portion. Faith knows this because we never tire of Christ here, and our portion there will be His gift, and He will be in it for us to enjoy for ever.
You can see how far-sighted faith is! It not only sees back to the cross, but onward to eternal glory, to the being satisfied unto the ages of the ages. Unbelief is never satisfied. Look into the faces you meet, and see what marks them. You see unrest, unsatisfied desire and longing, but not satisfaction. But the victory that faith gives opens the heart to Christ, and christ satisfies. Will it not be wonderful to be satisfied for ever?-satisfied with the presence of the One we have loved and trusted here. He has put all into His Book that we need to know and learn here, but how little is said about the place He has gone to prepare for us. We are told what will not be there, and that is something so wonderful!

"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be NO MORE DEATH, NEITHER SORROW, NOR CRYING, NEITHER SHALL THERE BE ANY MORE PAIN:for the
former things are passed away" (Rev. 21:3,4).

This is what faith sees before it. No matter how dark, how trying the days here, how many tears, or how much pain, faith can look on to that day when all these things will be gone for ever, when there will be no more tears or pain, when sorrow will be gone, when the presence of Christ will banish everything that can disturb peace and joy. We can always look on to that if we have faith in Christ. Christ is our portion, and it is wonderful that we can always be thinking of Him, of His love, of His dying on the cross, of His coming again. Do you love to think of Christ? He was in all the past, for He created all things. He will be in all the future, for He upholds all things by the word of His power. He cares for us, watches over us, is with us, if we will receive Him, welcome Him, and not shut Him out of our hearts. Any one can believe in Him, can trust Him who cried:"Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28). J. W. Newton