Making the Foundation of Faith substantial
Underlying topic(s):
- By John Eagles, August 14, 2001.
This page is part of an ERW course, Divine Principle.
Faith is internal. Faith in God is the most important in life, but if the internal faith is not made substantial, then faith is going to be lost again.
It is a very natural thing, that faith is made into something substantial. From God’s love, everything was created. By having trust in God, by loving God, that is by having faith we inherit God’s love, and just like God’s creations came from God’s love, so from our faith there will and must come creations.
While faith is invisible, the Foundation of Substance is visible. Faith wants to be made substantial. Faith wants to be expressed into substantial creations.
Four stages of the Foundation of Substance
In this article we shall try to find out the answer to the question what exactly is the Foundation of Substance.
There are four aspects of the Foundation of Substance:
- There does not exist a Foundation of Substance for someone if the person did not first prove his or her real faith in God.
- The Foundation of Substance means that someone did not only receive God’s Word, but that he or she also passes on God’s Truth to others.
- The Foundation of Substance means that a person is making good actions with his or her body.
- The Foundation of Substance is only valid if it is offered and connected to God’s world.
Just like the Foundation of Faith is made in four stages, so is also the Foundation of Substance. The stages for the Foundation of Substance correspond to the levels on which each man is existing, the levels of heart relating to God, of mind, of body and of creation.
The first level of the Foundation of Substance is actually the same as the Foundation of Faith. Whatever you do accomplish in the world of creation, it has no value if it is not based on your good relation to God. In each situation in which you act, your actions should be based on your faith in God. A good Foundation of Faith naturally translates into a Foundation of Substance, and a good Foundation of Substance can only be made if you live in good faith in God.
The second level of the Foundation of Substance is that you pass on God’s Truth to other people. This is a simple way for saying that you can only make a good Foundation of Substance if you are not having falsities in your mind, and that you should express goodness and truth in the relation to the people around you. You could also say that you should overcome all the kinds of fallen nature that might come up in relation to others.
Whereas the Foundation of Faith is invisible because it is made only in relation to God and therefore you must overcome your fallen nature only in relation to God, for the Foundation of Substance your offerings are external and visible, and you therefore always have to relate to the people around you while making your Foundation of Substance. That also means that you must have the right and not false feelings and thoughts in relation to those others. Your life should be an expression of truth, your words should be truthful only. But what is really meant for this second stage of the Foundation of Substance is that you do really overcome any kind of fallen nature that might erupt in your mind while you are making your Foundation of Substance and while you are relating to people around you.
Your mind should be filled with the truth, God’s Word that you received after you made your Foundation of Faith. Now you are going to express the content of your Foundation of Faith into visible and substantial creations and actions and you are making your faith visible to other people, you must make sure that your mind, your thoughts and feelings are really expressions of your faith.
The third stage of the Foundation of Substance is that you make good actions with your body. Also in making a Foundation of Faith, you were asked to do something with your body. Now you are supposed to act based on an already existing Foundation of Faith. Your actions are actions that express your good heart of faith and your original mind of truth. You must bring into practice the faith that is in you.
Finally, you must offer your Foundation of Substance to the person or people to whom you should offer in God’s world. You also must offer to God Himself, in your prayers. Only by connecting your offerings to God’s world, you make your Foundation of Substance complete.
Foundation of Faith and Foundation of Substance compared
The reader of this article might think what is the difference between the Foundation of Faith and the Foundation of Substance. It is true. Your Foundation of Substance that you are making today, functions as your Foundation of Faith for tomorrow. There is not really a difference between these foundations, except that when we look at the Foundation of Faith we are looking at the invisible aspects of the offering by a person, to his or her relation to God, and when we consider the Foundation of Substance, we look at the visible, external doings of a person As a matter of course, those external doings are seen by other people and therefore the central figure for the Foundation of Substance must deal with these other people.
Your Foundation of Faith concerns your relation to God. Your Foundation of Substance concerns your relation to other people. What you do in your life, this has significance for your relation to God, and it has significance for your relation to other people.
When we consider what you do concerning the whole of God’s World, then we look at your doings from the viewpoint of the Foundation to receive the Messiah.
When we consider what you do concerning your internal relation to God, then we look at your doings from the viewpoint of the Foundation of Faith.
When we consider what you do concerning your relation to people around you, then we look at your doings from the viewpoint of the Foundation of Substance.
Foundation of Substance in daily life
The fall made a split inside of Adam. Adam’s external actions were not always anymore in unity with his heart. Adam after his fall did sometimes make offerings to God while in his heart he was hating God. Though his offerings were meant to make impression, his heart was still against God. Then Adam had not really made a Foundation of Faith, though his external actions were meant to give the impression that he had made a Foundation of Faith. That was the main reason that Adam could not find back the way to God. Adam tried to come back to God with a partial solution. Adam continued to hide some of his real evil feelings, of his real terrible thoughts about God, and then Adam could not find the way back to God.
It is most essential in our life of religion that we don’t make a separation inside of ourselves. When you make an offering to God, it has to be an offering to God, not only given by you body only while your heart has feelings against God, but you must give your offerings with full desire for God, in intoxication for God, in great love for God. In the same way, when you relate to other people, you should demand from yourself to have only God’s feelings for them. If certain people are representing God, then you should demand from yourself that you feel deep love for them. If you don’t love people who are loved by God, then don’t make some kind of show as if you would love them, but look at your own heart as it is and solve the problems that are in your heart.
There are people who think that a foundation of faith is to offer to the leaders of their church, and that a foundation of substance is that they obey the leaders of their church. To obey people is only right if those people are really representing God. You must test your leader. Does your leader, your central figure really have a good relation to God, or does he only claim to have this position? To find this out, the only one way is by going to God and ask about your leader. You don’t make a Foundation of Substance by uniting with with leaders in a religious organization who themselves have no original faith in God.
