Friday, January 28, 2011

Christ in You

June 9, 1996

My chosen purpose this morning is to challenge believers to open yourselves up to the fullness of the Spirit. The promise and privileges of this message are for those who are "in Christ."

This is a very good first step by the way, to be in Christ. To be in Christ, to be a believer, a follower of Jesus, to be forgiven, and on your way to Heaven is very good.  But if this is the only step you've taken, the road to Heaven is much bumpier, dangerous, and exhausting than it needs to be.

The question this morning is- you may be "in Christ" but is Christ in you?  Is the spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, in you? Is He filling you as motivator to live like Jesus, as an enabler to live like Jesus, as the one who transforms you to be like Jesus?

Toward the conclusion of Colossians, Chapter 1, Paul says, "The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages...is now disclosed."  It is, "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (26, 27).  To be in Christ is essential, to have Christ in you is even better.  Someone said it is like a sponge that has been bound up tight and weighed down, then thrown into a bucket of water.  The sponge is in the water, surrounded by the water, in every direction it looks there is water, but not until the bounds are removed and it opens up will the water be in the sponge.

Likewise, perhaps, some of you may be "in Christ," but is Christ or the Spirit of God totally in you?

Before we go any farther, it would be helpful to ask:  What is the main distinguishing mark of a spirit-filled Christian?  Is there a telltale sign or mark of authentication for this spirit-filled person?  It is not quite as easy as looking for the label on a pair of jeans.

Several answers have been offered by a variety of people.  John Stott goes through this exercise or survey of essentials of Christianity.  It is a powerful model:  Some say the distinguishing mark is correct doctrinal beliefs.  This is a supportable answer because we all know sound doctrine is vital to the health of Christians and congregations.  And the Bible tells us to "contend for the faith" (faith = content of what is believed).  It encourages us to struggle all-out to keep the faith pure.  Yet the Bible also says, "If I can ...fathom all mysteries and all knowledge...but have not love, I am nothing."  So at least in this area, love is greater than knowledge.

Others have insisted that the telltale sign of Spirit filled Christianity is great faith.  Certainly confidence in Jesus is essential.  Without it, no one can call themselves a Christian.  But the Bible also says, "If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love I am nothing."  So here again, love comes out as greater than faith.

Another group emphasizes the importance of religious experiences as the distinguishing mark.  Sometimes one kind of rather vivid experience is prescribed as the sign.  This group too, has much Biblical support.  The Bible has enough to say about the witness of the Spirit of God with our spirits, that none dare ignore the importance of subjective emotional encounters with God.  The internal witness of the Spirit of God is and should be a real thing. Nevertheless, the Bible also says, "If I can speak in the tongues of men and angels...If I have the gift of prophecy (involved a momentary direct communion with God), but have not love, I am nothing.  It is clear that love is even more essential than an emotional or otherwise subjective experience.

Another group would put emphsasis on acts of compassion.  They, too, have a lot of Biblical material to support their claims.  Jesus said a gift of water, or food, or shelter given to the poor, is like a gift given to Him.  Even so, the Bible says, "If I give all I possess to the poor...but have not love, I gain nothing."  Love is greater than sacrificial service.

All of these elements are basic, essential to Christianity:  knowledge, confidence in God, inner awareness of His acceptance, a lifestyle of service, but in each case when a comparison is made directly, love comes out as greater.

We've been quoting I Corinthians 13 as many of you recognized, but Jesus also gives us reason to believe that love is the hallmark of the "real Christian life."  In John 13:34 He said, "A new command I give you: love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another."  He then went on to indicate this was the hallmark by saying, "All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another."

Jesus has just given our neighbors a legitimate way of grading how authentic our Christianity is.  Do we love each other?  They don't need to know:  how much we know, or how great our faith is, or how exciting our spiritual ecstasies are, or how much we sacrifice for the poor in order to decide if we're real or not.  They just need to know if we love each other or not.  The great commandment is NOT fathom the mysteries; trust God for the impossible; enjoy spiritual ecstasies; or serve the poor.  It is love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.

The Lord willing, this summer we will study together a brief passage that not only emphasizes the importance of love, but shows us how to get this love inside us.

Do you like to come in on Sunday mornings knowing you're going to hear a message on how you don't love enough, or you're not patient enough, or you don't have enough self control?  Most don't like it.  We know this kind of stuff - what we want to know is how to be better.

Read Galatians 5:13-26.

Verses 22 and 23 offer a powerfully attractive vision of the spirit-filled life.  But nothing is more frustrating than a beautiful vision without the ability to live it.  It is like finding yourself so in love with one person, that you'll never ever be content to love anyone else, but that person is so far removed from you, they'll never know you even exist.  That kind of vision can crush you.

Let me ask:  Do you find it difficult to love (your enemies)?  Do you find yourself aching for an experience of pure joy?  Would you like to move beyond the image of God as a celestial prison warden?

The vision of the fruit of the spirit produced in your life says this is all possible.  The question you must answer is, do you think Jesus can transplant His life, His character into your life?  This vision says - yes! That can happen! In fact, that is what has to happen for this vision to be fulfilled!

In this passage the scripture writer reminds Christians who are in Christ, but whom the spirit of God has not gotten into completely, that there is an agonizing conflict going on with the spirit and the old sin nature. Before the outpouring of Jesus' spirit (the Holy Spirit) the main weapon a person of faith had to fight the sin nature was knowledge- knowledge of the God-given ethical code.  When the Holy spirit entered the world, this impersonal ethical code was released of its responsibility for producing holy people.  A much more powerful and personal force took over the job.  Swimming lessons were replaced by a lifeguard to the rescue!

What happened in Galatia was that some believers began to emphasize the truth that "the law was no longer king," but they didn't mention the second half of the truth - that the spirit replaced the law.  They began to preach freedom from the law, which is good, but they used that freedom to violate the law.

In response to this heresy, another group in Galatia tried to remedy the situation by re-installing the law as king.  The written code had stood in the way of a lot of evil self-indulgence in the past.  Now they were ready to bring it back, to fend off the increasing wickedness.

The scripture writer says, both groups are wrong.  Freedom is not to be used for self-indulgence, but the commandments are not the most effective restraining power.  Instead of the law, this new personal force, the spirit of Jesus, the Holy spirit, living in every corner and cupboard and closet of a person's heart will provide the power to live like Jesus.  The old legal code could inform, but a believer cooperating with the Holy Spirit can be transformed.  It is good to be informed!  Better to be transformed!

And the transformation looks like the vision in verses 22 and 23.  And the sequence of the list is important. The very first mark of Jesus' transplanted character is love.

When the New testament speaks of love, the vast majority of the time it is referring to a special kind of love. It is a type our world isn't very familiar with.  This is why when Jesus commands His followers to "love your enemies" the unbeliever is not only turned off with the idea, he also is puzzled as to how it could happen.  To the world, love is one of a few kinds of feelings.  One kind is the romantic feeling.  Most people don't chose who they're going to have romantic feelings toward (until after they're married).  In fact, they say they fall into these feelings like they were walking down the side walk and a grate just opened up and caught them off guard.

Another kind of feeling is the kind you have toward a close friend.  After getting aquainted and developing
bonds and going through a few rough times together, a friendship develops.  It is a kind of love.  Another kind of feeling is what a mother feels for her child or the child for its mother.  Family love is different than romantic and friendship love, but it is still called love.

New Testament love is different altogether.  It is not primarily defined by a feeling, although the feeling of affection can be a part of it, and normally will be, given time.  The New Testament says, "God is Love." Think of the prodigal's father for a second: why did he love the wayward son?  Because the son had made his father proud?  Because the son offered such a fine speech of repentance?  Because the son had gotten his religious act together? He did not deserve his father's love; he hadn't done anything to earn it.  It was an affection in the heart of the father going out to the son regardless.

This is the kind of love we have all experienced from God through Jesus.  It is this kind of love - starting as a decision, growing into actions, and perhaps later blooming into affection- that a person with Jesus' transplanted character will display.  When Jesus gets inside us, this kind of thing will start coming out of us!

C.S. Lewis said, "good things as well as bad are caught by a kind of infection" (in other words, they're transferred by close contact).  If you want to get warm, you must stand by the fire.  If you want to get wet you must get into the water.  If you want real love or joy or peace...or eternal life, you must get into close contact with the one who has them.

God made us, like an engineer invents an engine.  An engine is made to run on gasoline.  It won't run on water.  God designed the human machine to run on Himself.  His Spirit is the fuel that we are supposed to live on.  God cannot give you love or joy or peace- apart from Himself.  They don't really exist outside of His Spirit.

Once a person is united with the Son of God and filled with the Holy Spirit, how could he not have love and joy and peace and eternal life?  It is like saying that "Jack has jumped into the ocean but he'll dry off before he gets out." As long as a person is in the ocean, they'll be wet!  When a person is in Jesus, and Jesus is in them they'll be filled with love and joy and peace and other good fruit.  It starts with being in Christ.  It is fulfilled when Christ is totally in you.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Faith 201

November 2, 2000

Not long before his death, Henri Nouwen wrote a book called Sabbatical Journeys.  He writes about some friends of his who were trapeze artists, called the Flying Roudellas.

They told Nouwen there is a special relationship between flyer and catcher on the trapeze.  The flyer is the one that "lets go", and the catcher is the one that "catches".  As the flyer swings high above the crowd on the trapeze, the moment comes when he must let go.  He arcs out into the air.  His job is to remain as still as possible and wait for the strong hands of the catcher to pluck him from the air.

One of the Flying Roudellas told Nouwen, "The flyer must never try to catch the catcher.  The flyer must wait in absolute trust.  The catcher will catch him, but he must wait."

Are you ready to be caught?  Will it be in mid air with no solid ground close?  Will you wait or be grabbing?

I'm guessing that the most difficult thing to learn is the wait!  The catcher may have a great record of catches.  You may have plenty of confidence in his strength.  You may trust his willingness/desire to catch you - but the first time you are 50 feet in the air with your own trapeze long gone and gravity is starting to pull - the urge to panic would be very powerful as you "wait" for the catcher to swing near. 

That tension between panic and trust is part of life with Jesus.  When you become good at it, you can say with Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:7, "We live by faith, not by sight."  Frankly everyone, regardless of religious convictions, lives by faith, more than sight.  Faith in something has more to do with everyday life than all the facts and figures of science, even in this technological age.

The core of what we know for sure (without doubt) is only a small part of the full measure of what makes up our world.  We live our daily lives, to a significant degree, more by what we believe to be true than by what we know to be true.  Truth be told, if we are to be truly alive we need more in our lives than what we can explain or comprehend in scientific sense.  Think of all the people that you have to "trust" in a weeks time.  Outside your family, are all the food preparers, medical personnel, child care givers, legal advisers, mechanics (I have a great story about fixing my own master cylinder and then driving Hwy 49 - now there is some faith).  It would be impossible to live very long or very significantly if you eliminated trust from your life.

If every risk had to be scientifically calculated and answered, life would be too burdensome to live.  The Bible teaches that faith is a core issue of life.  Hebrews 11:1 states:  Faith is "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."  And what we do not see is, nine times out of ten, more important than what we do see.  Do you know how much of an alligator you see in the swamp?  This is an appropriate comparison because faith is for the struggle - the battle with alligators - mostly unseen.

God wants us to live in an atmosphere of faith and great expectations.  The Bible says, "without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6).  If our confidence in God is growing, impossibilities start to become probabilities.  Impossibilities are the places of conflict and struggle . . . the battles.  And faith is for the battle.  The most intense battle is in the invisible realm.

Job, of the Old Testament, fought circumstances he could never lay a hand on.  How do you wrestle with grief?  It is an invisible enemy.  New believers trying to understand God's world wrestle with an enemy they can not touch.  Alcohol and drug addicts battle urges beyond the reach of their five senses.  Faith is for these battles.

What happens when we live outside a climate of faith in God?  Let's look at several passages in Mark. 

Read Mark 6:1-6, 9:14-50, 11:20-33

Why does God want us to live in an ambiance of trust and big expectations?  Trust is an expression of your will or voluntary submission.  God lives by the same moral code He asks of us.  One of the most important elements of that code is a proper respect for a person's free will.  In other words, God will not bless you against your will. 

The problem in Nazareth was lack of faith in Jesus.  The problem with the nine disciples at the bottom of the mountain was lack of an up-to-date faith in God.  Trust is essential for salvation.  If you choose not to trust Jesus and follow Him, God will not save you against your will.  Just as trust opens the door to salvation, faith would have opened the door to the possibilities of the miraculous in Nazareth.

The people of Nazareth chose to believe their doubts about Jesus.  These Nazarenes had built up a level of expectation based on information - in their case it was misinformation.  Expectations come from several sources.  One is personal observation.  For example, can I tell by the way you wear your hat that you are a druggie?  How reliable are my powers of observation?

Some of us rely on past history as an indicator.  We also depend on personal relationships to develop expectations.  These Nazarenes put their trust in their own "instincts" rather than the actual ministry of Jesus.

What is your typical mindset about God's daily involvement in your life?  Do you expect great things?  You do have a level of expectation that you cannot get away from.  It may be negative or positive, but you can't get away from the fact of your expectations of God.  The bad news is negative expectations close the door to God's involvement in your life. 

The good news is that faith opens the door to the possibilities of God's positive involvement in your life.  Jesus told the beat up father of the demonized boy, "Every thing is possible for him who believes" (9:23).  He told the disciples, "Have faith in God . . . believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

However, The key is not faith itself.  Remember:  Everyone has faith.  Some of you have faith in your doubts.  Some of you have faith in your intellect.  Some of you have faith in your lucky charms.  Some have faith in God.  The object of your faith makes all the difference.

Eve trusted the lie of Satan that she would be like God.  The nine disciples trusted their successful history of victory over demons (Mark 6:13).  They thought they had the gift in themselves.  But miracles happen when we put our faith in God.  Part of faith is an expression of dependence.  The nine were depending on their past success.  This is why Jesus chastised them for not praying.  They did not fail because they forgot the magic words.  There are no magic words or formulas.  They failed because they trusted in someone other than God.

Listen to Jesus' testimony:  "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can only do what He sees the Father doing. . ." (5:19).  Later, "By myself I can do nothing . . ." (v30).  Later, ". . . I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me" (8:28).  Jesus depended on the Father and submitted to Him.

What if the nine had started the exorcism by telling the Father, "'By ourselves we can do nothing,' let's open our hearts to God's active will and see what He will do."

Gladys Aylward, missionary to China more than fifty years ago, was forced to flee when the Japanese invaded Yangcheng.  But she could not leave her work behind.  With only one assistant, she led more than a hundred orphans over the mountains toward Free China.  In the book The Hidden Price of Greatness, the authors tell what happened:  "During Gladys' harrowing journey out of war torn Yangcheng . . . she grappled with despair as never before.  After passing a sleepless night, she faced the morning with no hope of reaching safety.  A thirteen year old girl in the group reminded her of their much loved story of Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea.

"But I am not Moses" Gladys cried in desperation.

"Of course you aren't" the girl said, "But Jehovah is still God!"

Who you are trusting makes all the difference.  The first step in creating a climate of faith is to make sure your confidence is in God, not yourself or a homemade belief system that conflicts with the Bible, nor an expectation that God no longer gets involved.  Put your confidence in Jesus.

The second step is especially important for the person with doubts.  Do an honest evaluation of your doubts.  Some folks prefer their doubts because of moral issues.  Frequently, unbelief and disobedience are the same word in the original text.  You may have to admit to an emotional involvement with sin that gives you pleasure.  This makes unbelief more attractive for you.  You do not believe because you would rather not believe.

When doubts challenge your faith consider the alternative.  Extreme example:  Atheism is a commitment to a belief that there is no God.  Consider what the salesman for atheism has to prove, how many doubts they have to overcome.  Agnosticism:  Even if there is a God it is impossible to know for sure.  What are the foundations of this belief system?  Are there reasonable assumptions to make?  Is the truth source consistently reliable?  You must realize that both faith and unbelief involve a commitment.  Belief involves trust.  Unbelief has a conviction that the Biblical record and evidence of God and the person of Jesus are irreparably wrong.  Are you more comfortable trusting your unbelief or your belief? 

Third, keep the climate of faith and expectation alive through prayer.  Jesus said, ". . . whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours."  Prayer is the channel of relationship.  It is where confidence is developed.  It is were you tune in to the voice of God.

Frankly, faith involves a risk.  So does unbelief, but people don't seem to realize it.  Consider the risk that an unbeliever takes as they plan on purpose (or maybe just carelessly) to not think about eternity.  We all want a sure thing.  Faith realizes that many situations look improbable, but the confidence is present to say, "With God the possibilities are endless."

Risk is at the very core of the Christian life.  No Christian has received a call to be safe from all life's dangers.  It may be that the greatest danger for a Christian is to never take a risk, to never let go of the trapeze.  In tough situations you can face the facts or trust God.  Every advance for the Kingdom of God has come when someone saw the facts (dangers) but risked their confidence in God anyway.  God seems to relish that kind of faith.

Our District Superintendent has challenged us to plant 25 churches in five years:  That is humanly impossible.  I told one of you about this vision and you wrote out a check for $100.  Others might be thinking all kinds of nice to not very nice thoughts concerning this dream.  One thing God and real Christian leaders know is that life is not meant to be a spectator sport.  The sidelines look safer and more comfortable.  Trusting God isn't much of an issue on the sidelines!  But if you will ever know what it means to see God involved in your life personally, to experience the powerful presence of God in your acts of service - then you will have to involve yourself to the degree that you will reject your doubts and choose to believe and act on your confidence in God.  As you do that you will begin to live in an atmosphere of faith.  The thicker that atmosphere becomes the more joy you will have and the more risks you will accept.

Are you trying to build a risk free life or a life filled with God-sized expectations?

Thursday, January 13, 2011

From the files

Editor's Note: This week threw a few more curves than normal (We closed on a house and are moving this Saturday; Quinn got pneumonia; Myla got the flu; I started a new job and had huge test on Saturday; and my mom who often helps type sermons, was out of town).  With all the chaos, I didn't have time to type out a sermon this week, but I thought it might be fun for you all to see what we see when we're typing them up for you so I scanned one. I know the font appears small, but if you click on each picture it should fill up your screen and be easier to read. Enjoy!  




Thursday, January 6, 2011

Faith 101

April 25, 2004

Henri Nouwen tells a parable of faith.  He imagines twins - brother and sister - talking to each other in their mother's womb.

The sister said to the brother, "I believe there is life after birth."  Her brother protested, "No, no, this is all there is.  This is a warm cozy place, and we have nothing else to do but to cling to the cord that feeds us."

The little girl insisted, "There must be something more than this dark place.  There must be something else, a place with light where there is freedom to move."  Still, she could not convince her twin brother.

After some silence, the sister said, "I have something else to say, and I'm afraid you won't 'believe' this either, but I think there is a mother."

Her brother became furious.  "A mother?" he shouted.  "What are you talking about?  I have never seen a mother, and neither have you.  Who put that idea in your head?  As I told you, this place is all we have.  Why do you always want more?  This is not such a bad place.  We have all we need, so let's be content."

The sister was quite overwhelmed by her brother's response and for a while didn't dare say anything more.  but she couldn't let go of her thoughts, and since she had only her twin to speak to, she finally said, "Don't you feel these squeezes every once in a while?  They're quite unpleasant and sometimes even painful."

"Yes" he answered, "but what's special about that?"

"Well," she said, "I think that these squeezes are there to get us ready for another place, much more beautiful than this, where we will see our mother face to face.  Don't you think that is exciting?"

The brother didn't answer.  He was quite fed up with his sister's foolish talk and felt that the best thing would be to simply ignore her and hope that she would leave him alone.

Read Hebrews 11

In this passage the writer makes it clear that God wants His people to live in an atmosphere of faith.  God is not honored and our souls do not grow, if we live in a cloud of cynicism or suspicion about God's character.  But we also know that God is not honored by our wishful thinking and ungrounded speculations. That kind of faith is not helpful because faith is not unreasonable or illogical.

This passage defines faith as a firm conviction based on helpful amounts of evidence.  There is enough evidence to motivate action:  offering a sacrifice (Abel), building an Ark (Noah), and resisting a torturers offer of freedom (Christian martyrs).

Faith is what helps us treat the things we cannot see as real.  Faith is the referee, or umpire, for us between the visible world and the invisible world.  The believer's faith has conviction informed by evidence, that God's invisible order is the far more real of our two worlds.  For this reason faith is the essential link between God and man. 

Physical eyes help us see visible objects.  Faith helps us get around in the invisible world.  How do we "know" that the things we see and call creation have had their source in the invisible God?  Faith has looked at the evidence.  Evolutionists claim the world came from pre-existing material by blind chance.  Admittedly, their conviction is based on faith that has looked at evidence.  The Intelligent Design movement has the Darwinists in a bit of a panic (Phillip Johnson, William Dembski, Jonathan Wells, Michael Behe).  The Tip of the Spear reminds us that the thing that makes your faith reliable is the reliability of what you are believing.

How good is your evidence?  Or more basically:  What is your truth source?  How reliable is it when you test it? Much of what we call "knowledge" is really faith or trust in an authoritative person or source of information.  I dare say, you never verify the chemical properties of your prescription drugs through personal experimentation with a home lab.  You never ask to see the certification of your commercial pilot.  If you regularly challenged the pharmacists and airlines they would not be pleased with you.  Likewise, "without faith it is impossible to please God."

Faith is only possible in a relationship.  It may be a formal relationship - as with your druggist or pilot -- or anything but formal, as with your spouse.  As you get acquainted with people, instinctively you adjust your trust to their level of fidelity or integrity.  This is why faith is more than a mental conclusion.  It is something you rest your life on!  Our faith in God is based on our evaluation of His fidelity.

Of course, pharmacies have made mistakes.  And people have impersonated airline pilots.  Sometimes we mistakenly misplace our trust in a person or we distrust an honest person.  Eve believed the lie of Satan.  Eve's misplaced trust caused her to be deceived.  What if she had exercised full confidence in God's instructions and distrusted Satan?  What if she had trusted the honest one?  What if you did?  Why is this so difficult?  The short answer is:  Complete confidence in God is difficult because we are living in the middle of a great rebellion against God.  There is a spiritual battle raging.

This is precisely why "faith" is so important.  The conflict is, for the most part, invisible.  We need eyes that help us operate in the invisible realm.  The Bible says "Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one" (Ephesians 6:16).

Faith is essential for the battle.  If you wander through this world without a studied confidence in God, Satan is already shaping you into a being he can use.  How can I say that?  Because the Bible warns that Satan can do that even with people who have a minimal faith in God.  If you are casually going about your life without even the basics of a God-shaped faith, you're not only damaging your own soul, you will be an unwitting agent for the enemy with your family, those at work and in your neighborhood.  Your belief or unbelief is influencing everyone you touch, in a semi-significant way.

Faith is for the battle - it is not for the tether ball pole or video games.  Satan will constantly challenge your trust in God.  In Luke 8 Jesus interprets one part of the parable of the soils saying, "Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe" (or have faith).

This explains why you can sit down and read the Sunday paper and breeze right through, but trying to concentrate on one short chapter in the Bible feels like a mind-numbing exercise.  Nominal believers seldom bother with the Bible for this reason.  It is too much of a struggle.  If they pick up a Bible their eye lids become two massive weights. 

Satan's hatred for faith explains why secular sophisticates are so uncomfortable with trust in God.  They let you know you're a little out of plumb if you exercise your faith in their presence.  Mike Wallace, on the recent 60 Minutes, belittled President Bush in his interview with Bob Woodward because President Bush believes God is willing to guide him if he can listen properly.  We know it is possible to be deluded into thinking that God is guiding.  Schizophrenics are real.  But most of us have read accounts of Abraham Lincoln on his knees seeking divine guidance in very troubled times.  Just because terrorists have used planes in a very evil way does not stop the rest of us from using them for the good they provide.  Prayer is not just a pious pose.  Is our President automatically schizophrenic because he believes in God and prayer?  That thinking would make us all pretty weird!

Secular sophisticates think faith is defined as "a profession of something that you strongly doubt to be true but wish were true."  It is primarily concerned with a nice after life.  Naturally this is not something that should be used to guide a country or a company or a family.  This is why some politicians bend over backwards to assure the country that their faith will not interfere with how they lead.  That is because their faith is only for show -- to win a few votes from the truly ignorant masses.  They pretend to have gone through "spiritual agony" for the country's good, saying things like "I am personally opposed . . . but support _____."  They find abortion morally reprehensible, but they won't use their leadership influence to oppose it.  Why seek to be a leader if they are that big of a coward?

They forget that everyone has faith and lives by that faith.  An atheist has a faith that there is no God.  Every time you make an important decision it is based on what you believe to be true or not to be true.  Unbelief is a belief that a certain set of claims are false.

It is irrational to think, before the evidence has been studied, that disbelief is a better world view than belief.  But there is a contemporary prejudice in some circles that the person who is doubtful or skeptical is automatically smarter (has gravitas - transliterated into English from Latin).  The facts of the case often are that they have an emotional preference for unbelief because of a lifestyle choice.  These are usually the folks who are the first to call Christians hypocrites while they say one thing and do another.

Unbelievers typically keep the standards for disbelief very low.  They rarely require a reasonable explanation for the existence of the universe (ignore all the evidence for design/designer); they rarely listen to the claims of Jesus (liar or lunatic?); or research the testimony of answered prayer or the ethical claims of Christianity.  For some unreasonable reason an unbeliever is not required to make sense.  Most unbelief today (evolution for example) would be recognized as nothing more than superstition if it were not endorsed by the academic world.

Faith in Jesus is a confidence in the reality of the invisible world as it is described in the Bible.  The five senses say "take what you can touch, taste, handle and enjoy."  Faith has a conviction that these things are good - they are from God - but there is something much better beyond these things:  The Giver!  The faith life is much larger than your audio-visual-tactile life.

Faith in Jesus says the future is more important than the present.  In fact, momentary pleasure, if God has not blessed it, will bring long term pain.  Whereas momentary pain, when it is God blessed, will bring long term wholeness and joy.  The world says, "Why should I refuse the pleasure of the moment for an uncertain future?"  The Christian has confidence to see that the future is not uncertain.  It belongs to God.

God is pleased when we trust Him.  Trust that He knows better how to live this life than we do.  Trust that His revelation about the larger invisible world is true.  Trust that His promises concerning the future are more reliable than yesterday's news.

"Without faith it is impossible to please God."