Matthew 16: 15-16
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.”
“We’re reading a really good book in (her church) book club,” my friend told me last week. The name of the book slips my mind, but the subject caught my attention. The book was about defending one’s faith. I feel my body assuming a defensive position at the sound of the words. Here’s why:
The idea that we must defend our faith suggests, and rightly so, that others will challenge our views on faith.
The Case for Christ by journalist Lee Strobel was such a book I read several years ago. Strobel, an athetist, was quite unhappy when his wife became a Christian. With the tenacity of an investigative reporter, he set out to disprove her faith, but instead found the Bible to be authentic, the eyewitnesses reliable and accounts of the resurrection to be historically accurate. Is it any surprise that his research led him to becoming a passionate lover of Christ.
What a beautiful testimony!
Strobel’s unhappiness with his wife’s new found faith made him determined to prove her faith in Christ was a bunch of malarkey. But God …..
Don’t you love it when life is at its messiest, most complicated, most hopeless and then there’s God with His plan.
A line from cartoon character Mighty Mouse’s theme song was, “ Here I come to save the day!” That’s God. He comes to save the day, the relationship, the life, the family, the man, woman and child.
It’s good to read accounts like Lee Strobel’s, but, perhaps, the most meaningful defense we can give of our faith is our personal testimony.
I remember my late friend Sandy describing what she explained to her friends after she came to faith in Christ.
“It wasn’t like I was this really horrible person before,” she said, looking thoughtful. “But it was as if Jesus saved me from myself – my self-centeredness, my preoccupation, my insecurities. When I asked Him to take charge of my life, I felt released from a heavy burden I never realized I was carrying. I became a new person. Maybe I didn’t look any different on the outside, but I sure felt it on the inside.”
Sandy was rescued from herself. She began to walk in the Spirit, rather than the flesh. To watch and listen. To follow God's lead.
So at the beginning of this new year, let us think about our faith.
Food for thought: Regardless of what other say, Who do you say He is?
Lord, You are many things: Brother, Savior, Redeemer, Life-Giver, Hand Holder, Lover of our Souls. You make life worth living and for that we give You the praise, now and forever. Amen.