Saturday, May 9, 2015

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes ...

TRUST THE WORD

I was at my desk last Saturday morning, when suddenly it was as if two giant hands grabbed hold of the sides of the house and gave it a gentle shake. I ran to the basement where my wife was doing laundry. "Did you feel that?" I asked. "Feel what?" she replied. "The house just shook! I think it was an earthquake!" I said. She didn't say it, but her look showed that she thought I was imagining things. After all, earthquakes don't happen in Michigan. However, later that day when she was running errands, she heard on the radio that there really had been an earthquake. When she told me what she heard, I wanted to say, "Why didn't you believe me?!"

Don't we, as Christians, find ourselves frustrated by the fact that so few seem to believe us when we tell them about our Savior. We all have those Thomas-like people in our lives who refuse to believe the Gospel message unless we can prove it to them. As a result, maybe we resort to logic and reason in an attempt to get people to believe in what Jesus did for all by His life, death, and resurrection. It's true that archeology, science, history, etc., all support the claims of Christianity. But it's also true that the best human argument is not going to create faith in a sin-darkened heart. Only God's mighty Word can do that. Paul said it so clearly: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes ..." (Romans 1:16).

When you and I are plagued by a guilty conscience, or when we're worried by a pressing problem, or when we're frightened by the prospect of death, where do we turn? Not to our reasoning. Not to human logic. We turn to the sure Word, the Bible. There Jesus speaks to our hearts, comforts us, and strengthens our faith. Let's remember that as we share our faith with others. The power to work faith is in the Word alone!

One day the earth will shake as never before. Before that day dawns, let's get busy telling others the simple Bible truths of sin and grace. Then let's just trust the Word to get results.