Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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Faith is the currency of the kingdom of God. With it, life in Christ is pleasant; without it, spiritual life is troublesome. Poverty on earth is measured in terms of wealth; poverty in the kingdom of God is measured in terms of faith. On earth, money is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of unseen things; in the kingdom of God, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of unseen things. Those who put their first degree of faith to good usage increase their store of faith. Others who squander their faith on false doctrines or ungodly behavior become spiritually poor.
All who have entered the kingdom of God have faith, or have had faith in the past. We know this is true because everyone who has been born again into God's kingdom has received the Spirit, and the Spirit can only be received by faith (Gal. 3:14).
Spend your faith wisely. You do this by spending your time wisely, by doing things that make the heart of God glad that you are His child. The result of pleasing our heavenly Father with our godly attitude and conduct is an increase in heavenly riches.
Jesus told a parable of three servants who were entrusted with some money from their master before he departed on a long journey. Two of the servants put their master's money to good use, and their wealth increased. The third hid his master's money in a hole in the earth, and when his master returned from his journey, he had nothing to offer him but the money that he had originally been given. His master rebuked him and cast him out as a "wicked and lazy servant". That cursed servant was cast into "outer darkness", said Jesus. Then he added, "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." May God help us be faithful and profitable servants of Jesus and his body of believers.
If you are no good to the saints, you are no good to God. Invest your faith, your short time on this earth, in those things that edify the children of God. Do good to those who need good done to them. "He who giveth unto the poor lendeth unto the Lord", wrote Solomon. And I will add that the Lord pays high interest on His debts. Every heart that does righteous deeds increases in faith. Faith is not a baseless wishing or hoping. Faith is a knowing; it is a sure confidence toward God that springs from a clear conscience.
Condemnation is a drain on faith. Stay away from those things that bring the cancer of guilt into your heart and eat away the faith you have. Your faith is precious. By it, saints have overcome the greatest obstacles that this world has laid before them. By faith, Daniel spoke kindly in the morning to the trembling king who had commanded him to be cast into the den of lions. By faith, David refused to avenge himself against the mad King Saul and trusted in God to keep him from evil. By faith, a little servant girl's testimony sent Naaman to Israel to be healed of leprosy by the prophet. By faith, the bloodied Paul requested permission to confess Christ before his brethren after they had brutally beaten him near the temple in Jerusalem.
All the wise and faithful spent their time on earth investing their faith in righteousness, trusting God that for them there would be a great and imperishable reward laid up in heaven. And at the close of their lives, none of them were disappointed.
Faith is "the substance of things hoped for". If your heart condemns you because of sin, your hope has no substance. But "beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God, and whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight" (1Jn. 3:21-22).
My father told me a story of his younger days, when his father, before he left the house that morning, had told him to chop some wood for the fireplace. During the day, he obeyed his father's commandment. He chopped the wood, more wood than what his father would have expected. But then, he did even more than that. He carried some of the wood into the house where it was needed, and then stacked the rest neatly in the wood shed. That evening, he could be found sitting on the front porch, eagerly looking for his father's return. He wanted to see the look on his father's face when he discovered what he had accomplished that day. When at last, he saw the buggy coming up the road, he jumped off the porch and ran to meet him. That is faith.
If we go the "first mile" and obey our Father's commandments, that is good. But oh, how faith increases when we go beyond the commandments and "do those things that are pleasing in His sight." When we invest our time in those things, instead of playing the games that others may play, we will long for the return of Jesus. And when he finally appears, we will rejoice to meet him because we know that he will be pleased with what we have done.