Thy Kingdom Come: A Blumhardt Reader - Plough

power, as if we could say, ‘Till now I didn’t want to believe;now I want to.” Hold on a minute! You will be told whenyou are to believe; you don’t simply come to the faith whenyou please. Faith is a gift and cannot be taken for yourselfas you choose.Of course, there are many people running about who thinkthey have faith. They may have the language of Canaan; butthey still do not believe. Often I prefer the unbeliever; atleast he is honest. Faith comes out of preaching; preachingcomes out of the Spirit; and the Spirit is God’s.When the Savior comes down and gives himself as theone who liberates, who delivers us through the gospel, thenman breathes this redemption-air and comes in confidenceto that one through whom redemption comes. Therefore,the words, “Every one who believes in him is righteous,”are not meant to imply that a certain sovereignty has beengiven to man so that in his sins he is able to turn either tothe devil or to the Savior. Rather, this is the meaning: hewhom God sets within the sphere of the Savior so that hecan recover his breath within the scope of redemption, thisperson recognizes that the help is coming to him from theSavior and consequently turns his eyes toward him. And it isthis person who is saved. [It is not that he spied out a Saviorfor himself and chose him but that he recognized the rescuerwho was at hand.] It is as though a man was drowning andthen, in seeing someone on shore, is rescued.207