Faith That Gives Life Meaning
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8: 1 – 6
Jesus offers hope to the hopeless. He gives a viable alternative to defeat, despair and depression. He is one worthy of our trust, one who offers us something in which to believe.
To people stripped of strength, robbed or reason, and void of victory He extends a loving hand of help. He who embodied truth shared truths that transform lives.
Upon passing Columbia University our guide gestured toward the bars across the street and said: “Each four years they have a new clientele. They come here their first year as Democrats, their second year they are Republicans, their third year they are Communists and by their fourth they are so confused they don’t know what they are. By the time they are 35 or 40 most of them have found something in which they can believe.” Have you?
One of our nation’s leading Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton, stated: “He who stands for nothing will fall for anything.” Currently this describes the plight of many. Have you ever paused and said to yourself, “This I believe.”
Regrettably all too many can say with American lyrical poet and playwright, and Pulitzer Prize winner Edward St. Vincent Benay confessed: “I must keep on living, but I forget just now why.” What is your purpose for living?
Albert Schweitzer was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, and philosopher, yet he expressed the challenge of finding fulfillment in life before his commitment to Jesus: “Only in my quietest moments can I determine what life is all about.”
May these lives motivate you to personally review your life and conclude that there are certain basics worth living by and dying for. Thus, you can determine you have something in which to believe. It gives purpose to life.
Many adults are trying to do combat with the wiles of the devil with knowledge they gained in childhood. They compare their youthful knowledge gained through a juvenile reading of Scripture with their adult reading of false philosophies. It is necessary to give Christianity a mature adult reading.
You may own a Bible and hold it in your hand. Thus, to you it is a POSSESSION. As such, it may be nothing more than a status symbol. You may have read and memorized passages. Thus, to you it is a PRECEPT. That is good. “Thy Word have I hid in my heart…” By owning a copy and memorizing passages you are in a position to make it a PRACTICE.
Write your own statement of faith. Take your time and use the Bible in support of your confession.
With the dark clouds on the horizons of our tomorrows it is not safe to look into the future except through eyes of faith. Do you have a faith for living?