“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”

— Acts 16:30b-31

7 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes mere flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.

8 He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor does it cease to produce fruit.

— Jeremiah 17:7-8

He answered … “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

— Matthew 17:20b

Consequently, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

— Romans 10:17

However, to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.

— Romans 4:5

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and love from Christ to you.

To have faith in Christ is the only requirement for salvation. Significantly there are more than 160 verses in the New Testament showing faith or belief in Jesus Christ as the only prerequisite for salvation. The words faith and belief are synonyms in the Bible. Both words have the same basic meaning: to trust in, to rely on, to have faith in or to believe.

It’s not the size of a person’s faith that matters. The important thing is the object in whom a person is trusting. Our faith is only as good as its object. Faith is not illusive concept. Faith is based on knowledge that comes from the Word of God. Faith is not a work, and therefore it is not based on merit. Since faith is not a work, and grace is God’s favor apart from works, faith and grace fit together perfectly like a hand in a glove.