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June
Faith Lost and Found
Dear Friends,
Recently I heard on the radio a man interviewing people who had lost their faith. The testimonies varied. One lady said that she had prayed to God for her mother’s healing. The lady told how confident she had been that God would hear her prayer and heal her mother because both of them had been faithful church-goers all of their lives. When the mother died, the daughter declared that she could no longer believe in a God who would deny such a worthy request. Others spoke of finding satisfaction in forbidden pleasures such as adulterous relationships or substance abuse.
As I listened to these testimonies of lost faith I thought to myself that what had been lost in every case was counterfeit not genuine faith. The parable of the sower and the four soils came to mind, as did the words of John in his first letter: They went out from us, but they were not ever of us. (1 Jn. 2:19). However, one man, who had a dramatic experience of apparent conversion, who had sought to know and do the will of God revealed in His Word, and who had been very faithful in his attendance at the means of grace, had taught Sunday School, and led home Bible studies, told of how he one day simply could no longer believe. He explained how for months he grieved over his apparently dying faith and cried to the Lord for revival. Then he told of how he reached a point where he realized he was living a fuller, more satisfying life without his faith. Rather compellingly he said that when he believed that he was heaven-bound, he lived in growing complacency and wasted time thinking that he would have eternity ahead of him. But without his belief in heaven and eternal life he said it was like his arising from a dream, if not from death, to live every day and every moment to the fullest, knowing that the days of this life on earth were all he knew he had.
As I have reflected upon that man’s testimony, several thoughts have occurred to me. The first thought was of how gracious our God is, even to those who taste His mercies and witness the power of the kingdom, and yet turn away from it. The Lord, like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, does not punish such people but blesses them with His common mercies. Even of hypocrites Jesus said: They have their reward. (Mt. 6:2,5,16), meaning that if men seek the applause of men instead of the approval of God, the Lord will kindly let them feed on such husks…for a time.
Similarly, when Jesus spoke of the rich man and Lazarus as well as the rich, big barn-building fool who prospered in this life, our Lord did not indicate any divine impeding of such men’s quest for worldly riches. Yet, here another realization came to me. Those who seek and find their reward only in this life one day all die and face divine judgment. What pleasure will they derive from their worldly pleasures then? The rich man who had ignored poor Lazarus in this life was in anguish in the flames of hell, desiring but not receiving a mere drop of water to relieve by a miniscule degree his torments.
Another thought that I had was how the man who says there is no God renders himself a fool. David declares: The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ (Ps. 14:1). This is because those without faith have not made a wise discovery that God is but a figment of men’s imaginations. Instead, the faithless are as men blind to and ignorant of a precious reality. They are like the servant of Elisha, who saw the threatening soldiers but did not see the greater hosts of the Lord (2 Ki. 6:8-17). They may at times think they have achieved paradise, but it is truly a fool’s paradise that will be followed by a very real encounter with the living God, and His judgment of condemning them to an eternity of torment in hell.
Yet, in a more positive vein than these true but sobering thoughts my mind turned to my own finding of faith and the Lord’s gracious opening of the eyes of my heart, thereby enabling me to know the wonder and growing satisfaction of His liberating truth, His transforming grace, the sweet fellowship of His people, and the ravishing pleasure of His immeasurable love. Surely all of us who have true faith know that, by God’s giving, we possess the pearl of greatest price. Surely we who exercise that faith find in Christ, faith’s only true object, a blessed and blessing Savior and incomparable peace and joy that make worldly pleasures seem as rubbish in comparison (Phil. 3:7-11).
Finally, my thoughts led me to one of the most famous Pensées of Blaise Pascal. In The Wager, Pascal considers how all men are wagering their lives by how they live in relation to a belief in God. For those who believe in God and live according to His Word, if He in fact does exist, theirs will be a life of love, joy, and peace here and now and one of eternal bliss hereafter. If God, in fact, does not exist, such believers will be no worse off in death than any others and they will be a great deal happier in life. For those who live as though God does not exist, their lives in this world are full of unattainable desires and unsettling uncertainties, followed by a supposed eternal non-existence. Yet, if God does exist, theirs is an eternity of torment. Therefore, the option of theism dominates that of atheism. So why would anyone not want to believe in the saving God of the Bible? That is a question for which all unbelievers will have no answer in the final Day of Judgment.
Faithfull yours,
William Harrell
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Sunday
Morning Worship 10:30 AM
Evening Worship
6:30 PM
Wednesday
Christian Education
7:00 PM
Saturday
Congregational Prayer Meeting
7:00 PM |
