Friday, July 7, 2017

The Key To Building A Strong Faith



Enter by the narrow gate….Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life…. —Matthew 7:13-14

{CHAMBERS} “If we are going to live as disciples of Jesus, we have to remember that all efforts of worth and excellence are difficult.  The Christian life is gloriously difficult, but its difficulty does not make us faint and cave in— it stirs us up to overcome.  Do we appreciate the miraculous salvation of Jesus Christ enough to be our utmost for His highest— our best for His glory? […] If we will only start on the basis of His redemption to do what He commands, then we will find that we can do it. If we fail, it is because we have not yet put into practice what God has placed within us. But a crisis will reveal whether or not we have been putting it into practice. If we will obey the Spirit of God and practice in our physical life what God has placed within us by His Spirit, then when a crisis does come we will find that our own nature, as well as the grace of God, will stand by us. […] God’s grace produces men and women with a strong family likeness to Jesus Christ, not pampered, spoiled weaklings. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline to live the worthy and excellent life of a disciple of Jesus in the realities of life.”

{ELGIN} As I was reading Chamber’s words I was thinking about the parallel between the health journey that my wife an I have embarked on and the spiritual journey that we have been traveling for, now, 41 years.  We are on a fairly Spartan regimen with respect to our eating habits.  Very often we are asked the question “Do you ever cheat?”  The thought behind  that question is “ I could not live like that, I love food too much.”  The key to success with the program we are on is structure and discipline.  The same for the Christian life.  Let me say that we are tempted from time to time.  Like the day that we bought a pizza for the twins and it sat between Martie and me in the car while we drove back to the house.  That pizza smelled wonderful.  We knew how good it tastes.  But that was no longer part of our life.  I must say this analogy breaks down at this point because one day, after we reach our goal weight, we may have a slice of pizza .. but I will not eat the whole thing by myself!

Our new life in Christ requires that we put God first and that we pursue the disciplines of the faith to mature in our faith.  It doesn’t just happen.  It requires work .. determination … consistency … accountability.  You will not be successful on your own.  Dr. Howard Hendricks, a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, said every Christian needs a Paul, a Barnabus, and a Timothy in their lives.  A Paul to teach us, to building to our lives, a Barnabus to encourage us and hold us accountable, and a Timothy into whose life we can build.  You don’t need a seminary degree to do those things … but you do need to be spiritually disciplined.  You will face difficult times … but you can endure them … you will face temptations to yield to your flesh … but you can resist them … God has given you everything you need.  You only have to put it into practice.  (2 Corinthians 4:8-10) “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”  The apostle Paul put it this way (Philippians 4:8-10) “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” That doesn’t happen without determined effort, but when it does your light will shine before all men.

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