“Without faith it is impossible to please Him” Hebrews 11:6

How often do we hear that something is ‘just commonsense’? The fact that we hear it so often shows that it isn’t so common. We often hear the term in relation to the Christian life as well and we find that, with the 57 varieties of ‘Christian,’ what we think should be common Christian thinking isn’t so common either.

The fact is that commonsense is not faith and faith is not commonsense. We read in Numbers 21 that the Israelites, bitten by poisonous snakes, could be cured by simply looking at a pole with a brass serpent attached to one end. That was not commonsense but it was an act of faith. “Commonsense and faith stand in the relation of the natural and the spiritual; of impulse and inspiration” (Oswald Chambers).

We must be careful not to apply what seems to be commonsense in the world to our spiritual life in Jesus Christ without taking God into account. From time to time God will ask us to do that which defies worldly commonsense to test our faith in Him (as He did with Abraham) but also to accomplish His purpose.

The just shall live by faith we are told and faith and commonsense run directly against each other.

Faith puts Jesus Christ and His Word first. Commonsense puts my knowledge and ability to reason first which disregards the first commandment. If we live according to commonsense we do not live by faith in God but by faith in ourselves.

God will bring us into circumstances requiring actions of faith in order to educate our faith and destroy our reliance on worldly commonsense that springs from the fallen nature. In the test He provides will we respond in commonsense or in faith in His Word?

Faith is the whole person rightly related to God by the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Faith is taking God at His word and living according to it even when we don’t see the outcome as being beneficial or in accord with so called commonsense.