A Faith of Your Own
I’ve had a burr in my saddle for a while. I feel it every time a church service ends with an altar call . . . when folks are asked to become Christians. The words flow with passion . . . “Give your life to Jesus.” “Get saved today.” “Surrender to Christ.”
What do these words mean to an unbeliever? Even more, what do they mean to the guy or gal who went through confirmation as a kid and hasn’t thought seriously about their faith since? (See how hard it is to talk about Christian stuff without using ‘church words’?)
Watching videos of middle schoolers share their stories before being baptized, I was stopped in my tracks by these words . . .
“I now have a faith of my own.”
That’s it! These young people have moved beyond the faith of their parents and decided to believe independently. But I think the message is even bigger. Serious Jesus-followers have faith in God and live a faith-filled life! That’s the end game. “Giving your life to Jesus,” “Getting saved,” etc. are a means. The end is a life of faith in God . . . a life lived with God.
Everyone has faith . . . in a job, a savings account, a boss, a spouse, a doctor, a pension plan, a best friend. These days, we’re told to have faith in ourselves. So the idea of ‘having faith’ isn’t new. It’s about who or what we have faith in. Everything I just listed falls short at some point. The job goes away, the doctor can’t heal you, the pension plan is underfunded, the friend moves away, the spouse dies. Now what? Faith in a God who loves me . . . who never leaves, never dies, never moves away, never implodes, never turns his back on you . . . that’s what we all want.
Three things are necessary to have faith in someone or something . . .
- You have to believe it exists – You won’t squat in a chair if you don’t believe it’s there. You won’t have faith in an imaginary friend. You won’t put your faith in Jesus unless you believe He’s real.
- You have to have access to it – You might believe God exists, but if you can’t get to Him (or He can’t get to you), then you won’t have faith. He’ll be a concept, maybe a nice idea, but not someone you have faith in.
- You have to trust it to do what it’s supposed to do – You have faith in your car to get you from point A to point B. You have faith in your stove to cook your food, not wash your clothes. When we start asking people and things (and God) to do things they aren’t supposed to do, we lose faith in them. That’s why so many people lose faith in God and walk away . . . because God didn’t do what they thought He was supposed to do.
Are you struggling with your faith? Can you trace it back to one of these three issues? Pray right now and ask God to give you more faith.
Scripture: The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5)
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