Living by Faith (for Dummies): Three First Principles for godly living

Read Time: 12 Minutes

For the record, I would include myself in the Dummies category (referring to the Title). Something new is revealed to me daily. I need constant reminders of righteousness and who He is. I try to walk according to his will and law, but I stumble as if almost on cue. And that is the point, we are flawed human beings. We are all ‘dummies’ in the shadow of our AWESOME creator God, waiting to be perfected in our immortal bodies. Our earthly shells are meant to serve a purpose. One of which seems to be the friendly hint that everything in this life is temporary.

“We concentrate not on what is seen but on what is not seen, since things seen are temporary, but things not seen are eternal.”

‭‭2 Corinthians (2 Co)‬ ‭4‬:‭18‬ ‭CJB‬‬

In fact, we just left the season of Sukkot. Sukkot or the Feast of Tabernacles is one of the Lord’s feasts where we are commanded to dwell in booths or tabernacles for a week. This is to serve as a recurring reminder that our earthly dwellings and our bodies are temporal. They will pass away. And we are to focus on rejoicing, because the eternal is coming – particularly our eternal King and Savior, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach (Jesus the Messiah)!

“I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “See! God’s Sh’khinah is with mankind, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and he himself, God-with-them, will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will no longer be any death; and there will no longer be any mourning, crying or pain; because the old order has passed away.””

‭‭Revelation of Yeshua to Yochanan (Rev)‬ ‭21‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭CJB‬‬

How awesome is that! Our Messiah is coming to save us from the old order (again).

And while we know that we can have hope, it takes faith everyday to ensure we live righteously and are saved. For we are not saved by our works, but through grace and believing in Him and His Son whom he sent. And while the fact remains that we visual beings, craving the physical for reward, proof and testament. We must remember that we are not of this world. We must focus our eyes on the eternal, which is unseen.

When we focus on that which is seen, we get ourselves into trouble. Think about Lot, how he focused on the fertile ground of the Jordan river valley. He ended up living near Sodom and Gomorrah!

Trust in the unseen and you will be amazed at the better outcome you never imagined…

“That is, God raised us up with the Messiah Yeshua and seated us with him in heaven, in order to exhibit in the ages to come how infinitely rich is his grace, how great is his kindness toward us who are united with the Messiah Yeshua. For you have been delivered by grace through trusting, and even this is not your accomplishment but God’s gift.”

‭‭Ephesians (Eph)‬ ‭2‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭CJB‬‬

Humility is definitely a precursor and arguably a first principle of our first principles as it is embedded in the fabric of each of the principles laid out below. And our Patriarchs exemplified humility. I think about Moses, when he was ready to be wiped from the Book of Life for the entire nation of Israel. And Abraham, who left his homeland and his family, was even willing to sacrifice his son (sound familiar). Talk about humility!

Furthermore, Abraham constantly lived out his faith. First and foremost, he trusted in God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness. Secondly, he lived out his trust by loving God and loving others. One prime example being that he asked to spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (not only on the account of Lot). This is contrasted with Noah’s pure obedience to build an ark, rather than pleading for God to save the world (at least to our knowledge).

And lastly, Abraham walked out his trust and love, in faithful obedience to God’s word. It is similar to the way we have spoke about things flowing from our mind to our heart to our limbs or our body in action. We need to trust without seeing, which leads to loving without ceasing, and ultimately leads to acting without doubting. It is a circle of faith that leads to a beautiful life and eternity with our Creator.

“It was the same with Avraham: “He trusted in God and was faithful to him, and that was credited to his account as righteousness.” Be assured, then, that it is those who live by trusting and being faithful who are really children of Avraham. Also the Tanakh, foreseeing that God would consider the Gentiles righteous when they live by trusting and being faithful, told the Good News to Avraham in advance by saying, “In connection with you, all the Goyim will be blessed.” So then, those who rely on trusting and being faithful are blessed along with Avraham, who trusted and was faithful.”

‭‭Galatians (Gal)‬ ‭3‬:‭6‬-‭9‬ ‭CJB‬‬

“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17, KJV)

1 – EMUNAH (Faithful Trust)

Speaking of circles and cycles, each morning when I wake, I say one of the most recognized Jewish prayers said daily by Jews (and some Christians alike) around the world. It is called the Modeh Ani.

Here’s the Modeh Ani prayer in all three forms (English, Transliterated, and Hebrew):

⸻

I thank You, living and eternal King,
for mercifully restoring my soul within me;
great is Your faithfulness.

⸻

Modeh ani lefanekha,
melekh ḥai v’kayam,
sheheḥezarta bi nishmati b’ḥemlah,
rabbah emunatekha.

⸻

מוֹדֶה אֲנִי לְפָנֶיךָ
מֶלֶךְ חַי וְקַיָּם
שֶׁהֶחֱזַרְתָּ בִּי נִשְׁמָתִי בְּחֶמְלָה
רַבָּה אֱמוּנָתֶךָ

Did you catch the last word in that prayer? It is actually the from the Hebrew word ’Emunah,’ which you can see in the last word of the transliteration. Emunah most literally translates “to be firm, steady, reliable, or trustworthy.” It is where we derive our commonly used English word ‘Amen.’ Which we say when? That’s right. 🙂

But in this prayer, we are speaking to God our creator and thanking Him for His faithfulness, for his consistent, steady, reliable trustworthiness. And the repetition is intended, because it He is so certain in all of this that He becomes our Rock, our foundation, our redemption and our salvation. All in ONE.

It is through his stability that we obtain ours. Nothing is ours alone, but is a gift from God. So why would our faithfulness and trust be any different. Faith starts with trust. And that trust must be unshakeable.

For when we ground our trust in HIM, we take root. And when our roots are planted in firm soil, they will grow to heights unimaginable. Remember the Redwoods from the first post.

This is absolutely critical and a precursor to bearing fruit. And we must constantly remind ourselves of this, which is why we pray it each morning!

“Trusting is being confident of what we hope for, convinced about things we do not see. It was for this that Scripture attested the merit of the people of old. By trusting, Noach, after receiving divine warning about things as yet unseen, was filled with holy fear and built an ark to save his household. Through this trusting, he put the world under condemnation and received the righteousness that comes from trusting. By trusting, Avraham obeyed, after being called to go out to a place which God would give him as a possession; indeed, he went out without knowing where he was going. By trusting, he lived as a temporary resident in the Land of the promise, as if it were not his, staying in tents with Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov, who were to receive what was promised along with him. For he was looking forward to the city with permanent foundations, of which the architect and builder is God.”

‭‭Messianic Jews (Heb)‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬-‭2‬, ‭7‬-‭10‬ ‭CJB‬‬

For more examples, I encourage you to read all of Hebrews chapter 11. When you’re back, let’s move onto the second of the first principles of Faith – LOVE.

2 – AHAVAH (Love)

The best Torah Teacher ever Yeshua (Jesus), gave us the first principle of Love when he was asked about the most important commandments. For more on this, you can read the post The Two Most Important Commandments.

First principle of this first principle is to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, and all of your strength. And the second principle, like it, is to love your neighbor as yourself. All other commandments hang from these – that is the definition of a first principle!

“When the crowds heard how he taught, they were astounded; but when the P’rushim learned that he had silenced the Tz’dukim, they got together, and one of them who was a Torah expert asked a sh’eilah to trap him: “Rabbi, which of the mitzvot in the Torah is the most important?” He told him, “‘You are to love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.’ This is the greatest and most important mitzvah. And a second is similar to it, ‘You are to love your neighbor as yourself.’ All of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot.””

‭‭Mattityahu (Mat)‬ ‭22‬:‭33‬-‭40‬ ‭CJB‬‬

So essentially when it comes to these first principles like any first principles, they are like a first principle tree. From each of these we should derive further principles, hence the name first principles.

And if you are confused, don’t worry. In essence, first principles are the breakdown or composition of parts for complex topics that help explain it’s underpinnings. It’s like being given the basic building blocks to start learning any topic. So first principles are the key ingredients you need for a specific recipe (and others like it).

Likewise, first principles should compliment each other and lead to other principles or deeper concepts. As we have often discussed, when your heart is full of love, that is what exactly what overflows into your attitude and actions. Same concept here, but with elements of learning.

Fact is people watch and observe us more than we know. People learn from us based on our words and actions. And not that we need worry about their judgment, but like children, people pick up and mirror what we do. Especially as leaders or real-life influencers. And as Children of God, we all have this status. We are called to be a light. It is synonymous with influence. The light shines in the dark. It illuminates the way!

So as we live out our love, that is exactly what we need to focus on – love of life. Be happy, share your joy, be a light unto the nations and spread the good news. When you love God, you know that since others are made in God’s image, we have to love them too. And more importantly, when you start loving people, you find that it does not have to be a commandment, but rather a way of life. And that’s exactly what we will discuss in the next principle.

“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone, it has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” 
-Ursula K. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven (1971)

Love in Hebrew is a word of action, not a universal concept like we think about in English. So take a few seconds today to stop and think about how you are acting in love? Is your love overflowing? Or are you a stone? I assume not if you are reading this.

Love should invade every area of our life and make it more loving. This is why Yeshua said to turn the cheek. He wanted to make the point that we can show love in all circumstances to anyone. So when you are lost, get back to the Word – this is our instruction manual for love.

3 – HALAKHAH (Walk)

There’s a beautiful phrase that starts the Torah portion of Noach (Noah). It says that Noah ‘walked with God.’

“But Noach found grace in the sight of Adonai…In his generation, Noach was a man righteous and wholehearted; Noach walked with God.”

‭‭B’resheet (Gen)‬ ‭6‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭CJB‬‬

There were only a few people that were described as walking with God. Enoch was one of them, and God took him (we don’t know where). But needless to say, this is an honor to which but few achieve.

And it is one reminiscent of the Garden of Eden, when God walked with Adam. Now I imagine that this was an amazing experience each day that God got to walk and spend time with His creation, before the fall and corruptible seed was consumed. Everything was good and in a perfect state of peace.

This is what we need to return to in our walk. Our objective must be this Garden State, where we walk with God daily. And while we cannot do that physically (yet), I pray one day we can. So for now, we must spiritually walk with Him on a daily basis, emulating that morning, afternoon, or evening Garden stroll.

In Judaism, Halakhah, which literally means ‘the path one walks’ (from the verb for walk or go הלך halakh), is the application of Torah or God’s instruction manual in our everyday life. And remember, this is obedience out of love and our immense faith, not in order to gain salvation.

Salvation comes through God’s grace. And how about this for a fun fact coming full circle…Noah’s Hebrew name spelled backwards means grace!!! How cool is that!

And just when you thought the fun facts were over, 5 is the Hebrew number for Grace, and Noah appears first in Genesis 5! 5 is also the number for breath (the 5th letter ‘hey’ represents breath), and by God’s grace, He gave Adam the breath of life in order to…that’s right – WALK WITH HIM!

And, and, and…remember the letter that God added to Abram and Sarai…yes, that was the letter ‘hey,’ equivalent to our English letter ‘h’. How cool is that! It also just so happens to be the first letter of the Hebrew word halak, as in halakhah or walk. 🙂

So every time we take a breath, we should remind ourselves that it comes from God, and that each moment is a gift from Him. Ergo, we should be walking and spending time with Him in every moment possible. All with the goal of returning to the Garden State.

Side note – why else would the whole mindfulness movement be focused on breath. Because we have figured out how reliant the health of our entire being – both physical and spiritual – is reliant on breath! This is not some type of Eastern medicine (although Israel is in the Middle East), it is God’s breath and spirit that is in us!

So when we talk about being present, it is about focusing on His presence in us, and allowing our breath to generate the strength of faith, which in turn leads to action or walking out His will.

It is 100% about our relationship with our Creator. In our actions and our daily walk, we have to learn to love and love to learn – about Him and His WORD. Create love daily in your walk and love to create. Combine that with trust and you are on a path to peace!

One thing I have learned over and over again is that you cannot out give God. If you are faithful in the little things within your walk, then He will trust you with bigger (and better) things. Everything is a cycle and with that comes reciprocity.

And there is one who embodied His Walk more than anyone on the planet – that is Yeshua. So as we learn from our Chief Rabbi, we should be mindful that our faith needs to generate love, which in turn must lead to action and walking out His way. For it is His way that is the highway…back to the Garden.

“Yeshua said, “I AM the Way — and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me… “If you love me, you will keep my commands; Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me, and the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”… Yeshua answered him, “If someone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Someone who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words — and the word you are hearing is not my own but that of the Father who sent me.”

‭‭Yochanan (Jhn)‬ ‭14‬:‭6‬, ‭15‬, ‭21‬, ‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭CJB‬‬

“But someone will say that you have faith and I have actions. Show me this faith of yours without the actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions! You believe that “God is one”? Good for you! The demons believe it too — the thought makes them shudder with fear! But, foolish fellow, do you want to be shown that such “faith” apart from actions is barren? Wasn’t Avraham avinu declared righteous because of actions when he offered up his son Yitz’chak on the altar? You see that his faith worked with his actions; by the actions the faith was made complete; and the passage of the Tanakh was fulfilled which says, “Avraham had faith in God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness.” He was even called God’s friend.”

‭‭Ya’akov (Jas)‬ ‭2‬:‭18‬-‭23‬ ‭CJB‬‬

So just like when we become close enough to our parents that we consider them also a friend, let’s make that our goal in our relationship with God, our Father!

Takeaways to make a way…

1. Everything is a cycle, including our Faith
2. That which we can’t see is an opportunity to test & deepen our faith
3. Obedience AND Love flow from Trust
4. When we love, we honor our Father and our Creator
5. We need to return to the Garden State – walk with God daily
6. The path to righteousness is narrow, remember that!
7. Our forefathers are examples of how we should walk, but Yeshua is the Chief and Perfect Example (He is the WORD)
8. Use the Word as our Instruction manual for living, loving, trusting and walking (it is a light to our path)

Further Study with your Buddy…

For further reading on Obedience and the godly paradox, read LOL (Love -> Obedience -> Love

For another deep dive on Faith and God’s Foresight, read In God We Trust

Questions for Reflection…

1. Where are you having trouble believing or having faith because you can’t see or touch something?
2. Are you more like Abraham or Lot? What trouble could that bring (even if low probability)?
3. What small step can you take today to increase your trust in God?
4. Do you have any daily prayers? What about trying the Modeh Ani?
5. How can you live out love more, starting today?
6. What in your actions reflects your walk and your faith?
7. How do you need to change your walk, to walk closer to God?