Faith

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Faith is simple, not technical. When the first apostles followed Jesus they had little understanding of the Savior, yet their faith was such that they gave up jobs, homes, and families to follow the Lord. (Present-day Christian organized religion reflects little of the simplicity and dedication of these early disciples). Later, when the apostles’ faith matured, they ably confronted the sophisticated arguments and accusations leveled at them. Even then, they kept their message simple and to the point. The power of God reigned mightily in their lives!
While we admire the disciples of the early church, we often disregard their righteous commitment. We honor them for fleeing worldly trappings such as materialism and vice then turn around and pursue such things ourselves, often with reckless abandon. In addition, we deny the power of God at work in the first century church. The power to cast out demons that caused physical disease and mental illness is redefined: It now depends solely on the curative powers of medicine and psychology. In addition, the power to raise up preachers no longer belongs to the Holy Spirit but to seminaries where ministry is viewed as a profession and not as a calling from God.
Least of all are we a people prepared to die for our faith. I am not saying that we pursue martyrdom, but I am saying that we rely too heavily on our constitutional rights to protect us from persecution. Thank God we currently experience religious freedom, but let us also be spiritually prepared for the day when evil men take that freedom away. We have compromised our kingdom status as aliens and strangers in a foreign land for peace and comfort in the midst of our enemies. As another present-day apostle has astutely observed, “We have long sought our solace and well being in the goodwill of unrighteous men.”
Goodwill is not established in the promises of men but is the essence of truth revealed in the promises of God. Peter recognized this when he stated that baptism in Christ is the answer to a good conscience (1 Peter 3:21), the truth is in all of us…the voice of the conscience. All we need do is listen to it. Take note, though, how we listen determines whether we end up worldly or godly.

WORLDLINESS IN RELIGION
What direction does society encourage? Many persons will take the high road to intellectual and financial endeavors; perhaps leading some of them to believe that they have accomplished something better for themselves and others. Many will take the low road into a life of gangs, crime, substance abuse and addiction, perhaps leading some of them to believe that they can do nothing to benefit themselves or others. Most will end up somewhere in between, not too high and not too low. No matter what road we take controlling our destiny means security, however we choose to define security: whether it is to seek and save or retreat due to fear.
Those taking a higher road may revert to a lower road and vice versa. If the world does not provide the answers, then people may go the route of religion because of their need to identify with something other than a life of chaos and uncertainties. This recourse will cause many to become compulsive in their religious pursuits. I am referring, here, to one’s need for a “higher power” to control impulsive thoughts and habits. One can go many directions in the search for inner peace. For some, the natural elements fulfill the requirement. For others, ritualistic acts involving abstinence of one form or another fulfill the need. Still others need temples, images, and standardized systems of doctrine to keep them in line. Of course, there is the religious eclectic that identifies with all of the above and more. Whatever the direction, the idea is to accomplish for the seeker the ability to identify one’s purpose and position in life.
Belief in God, however, will always fail when defined by such terms and practices. God’s character simply doesn’t correspond to secular thought. Religion, defined in worldly terms, always seeks purity but never finds it. Simply put, purity cannot be found in an impure world. Religious systems and icons cannot make a person whole. Religious movements would like adherents to believe that worldliness is overcome through a process of mind over matter…spirit over the natural…bringing order to the disorderly and predictability to the unpredictable – a mindset of total control. When has true inner peace ever been achieved through such means? The effect of secular religious movements on disciples does not obtain genuine inner peace.
These acts of organized religion have never rescued us from the world. The wise, however, have found that true religion rescues us from ourselves. It is not mind over matter, Gnosticism, but the Spirit of truth within us coming to fruition. We cannot make the world go away but we can seek a higher understanding of who we are in the midst of the world. For the one that seeks truth in one’s Creator-God, the challenge is to recognize how we as believers and sons of God are distinguished from the world we live in. It is not a matter of what we do to attain this understanding but of how well we listen and perceive that which is already here to know. Even Creation speaks to the glory of God (Psalms 19:1-6; Romans 1:20). Not that we should worship nature; rather, that we understand our natural surroundings as it directs us to the One that nature itself worships.
Seeking God helps us find ourselves, for it is in his image, not religious icons, that we have our being. But in our seeking, let us be aware of the pitfalls that will come our way. Let us be aware of the difference between the things we desire of God versus the thing God desires of us.

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