Our word for this week is the word “Faith”, but what is faith?
Some Christians think that it means blind acceptance: “You’ve just to go believe.”
Some skeptics agree: “Faith is believing in something without good reasons to do so.” – Steven Pinker, evolutionary psychologist who opposed mandatory religion classes at Harvard.
Both are mistaken; such ignorance of the nature of faith leads to:
- Shallowness of faith among Christians.
- Prejudice against faith among skeptics.
In order to avoid misunderstanding the nature of faith, especially the nature of Christian faith, we are going to look at both.
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How many signs would have been sufficient for them to believe? Jesus had already performed a number of miracles there in Capernaum (i.e. a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit (Mark 1), Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1), the sick and demon possessed (Mark 1), Centurion’s servant (Matt. 8)) What is necessary for us to believe?
To say that God's power is amazing is an understatement. Our words and mental capacities can not fathom the power of our Creator. By just reading through the Bible it…
If Jesus was to appear today, which group would you be apart of? The group that would bow down and praise Him or the group that would want to crucify Him?
The apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”
As we talk about being the hands of Jesus, someone might be misled to think that we intend for Christians to do the impossible. There were quite a bit of things Jesus did that we are not capable of doing.
We must seek to be gentle people, even in the most trying times. Not because we are weak or cowardly, but because we are humble, we have placed our strength under God's control.
Do we want Christ's gifts without the Cross? Do we seek to use Him instead of asking Him to use us as He sees fit? If He does not rule over all of my life then He is not truly my King.
The heart of Jesus will only begin to develop in our lives as the Holy Spirit causes His fruit to grow within us. Would you say that you are someone who is faithful? Can those around you depend on you, can they trust you, are you reliable? Would God consider you as someone who is faithful?