| Cloudy Faith? |
| Cloudy Faith? |
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If you're a Christian and you say you have 'faith', what is it that you have? I'd hope you're talking about confidence in 'eternal life'. Probably when you say 'eternal life', you mean a 'good' eternal life, right? None of that 'judgement day' kind of 'eternal life' stuff. When you read your New Testiment and Jesus says 'believe in me', and then later talks about 'faith', did you know it's the same greek word? 'Believing' is equal to 'faith-ing'. True ... greek pistis/pisteuo. Actually, the greek is closer to 'becoming convinced'. So when people 'faith'd' Jesus, they became 'convinced' of Jesus (his power and/or being the messiah). And after his resurrection, they could additionally 'faith' in his and their own resurrections too! Actually, 'belief' is even more interesting. You'll remember Jesus saying 'Verily, verily', or 'truly, truly'. The underlying word is 'amen' ... same as at the dinner table prayer. Amen has a hebrew base meaning 'belief' and linked to 'faithful'. Just as in greek, the emphasis is on confidence, with an underlying concept of the support of a parent holding a child. You'll remember Jesus makes this comparison also ... the belief of a child. Now, this is all well and good. But what is the basis for your faith or 'being convinced'. The original Christians largely had the testimony either first- or second-hand witnesses. Of course, for most of the jews, that didn't help much, so Paul said this allowed the gentiles (most of us) to 'catch up'! (Romans). Instead, your 'being convinced' is based on that book you got from the bookstore (the Bible). And you've carefully checked it out, before becoming 'convinced', right? Right. And, if you're like most Christians, your 'faith' (level of being convinced) is probably equal to your life as a Christian. Jesus frequently made that association ... the strength of peoples 'faith' was equal to the strength of HIS miracles. Surprised? Some villages had so little 'faith' (like Nazareth), they had almost no miracles. Poor puppies! Of course, Josephus didn't think much of them, either. Now, another question for you. When you look on the lives of your fellow Christians, do you see 'convinced'? Now be honest! I'd bet you don't. Sure, your pastor and some other friends you know. But I'm talking Christians in general here. Post Toasties Test! What if someone tells you they're 'convinced' about the benefits of Post Toasties? REAL faith! Yet, they also tell you they eat Toasties only once in a while. Is that really being convinced? Is there a parallel to Christians here? Where I am going (!) is what I call 'cloudy faith'. We 'say' we are convinced, but we are reluctant to discuss it. True! We 'say' we have faith, but we can barely pass the Post Toasties test. And when someone questions the basis for our 'convinced', we're offended! Satan, get thee behind me!! Truth be known, I'd say there's too much dishonesty 'somewhere' in the 'claim' for 'convinced'. There's dishonesty in avoiding people's questions. Dishonesty in average lives that have little of 'Jesus' in them. A smiling duplicity, protected by the cloudiness of 'faith'. What if you told your fellow Christian that you have 'faith' equal to your life as a Christian? And being honest (of course), what if you told them, you had 'little faith'? Bet you couldn't handle that. I certainly couldn't. But, Jesus handled it ... 'ye of little faith'. Ye of 'little convinced'. |
| Copyright ©, 2007, dmbarnhart |
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