Scripture Reference: Romans 1:16; 1 Timothy 1:8-14

Promises

To begin with, we can be proud of the Christian faith because it does not disappoint.

By nature and experience we tend to be a suspicious people. For the most part, we have a right to be because we are bombarded on every front by promises which usually turn out to be disappointments. Consider, for example, the average television advertisement. An announcer reminds aging women with encroaching facial wrinkles that, if they will use a certain product, they will likely live to be as old as Methuselah, and even more beautiful. Granted the advertisers don’t quite go that far, but they do promise a youthful appearance for the duration of your life. Any thinking person, however, knows that’s just not true.

We’ve been promised so much, and the return has been so little that most of us feel a little like Spike who wrote Snoopy a letter in one of the “Peanuts” episodes:

“Dear Snoopy, I’ve just purchased a magic cape from a door-to-door salesman who promises me that, if I wear the cape, I will be instantly transported to a land of paradise. So, by the time you get this letter, I’ll be in paradise.” Several frames pass and in the final scene, Spike is standing right smack in the middle of a desert surrounded by cactus plants. In the caption below, Spike is complaining, “Somehow, I think I’ve been had.”

Spike’s problem is our problem. We’ve been “had” too many times. We are understandably suspicious. The unfortunate thing is that it affects the way many people look at the Christian faith. However, the Christian faith does not disappoint. It does produce what it promises.

What does the Christian faith promise? First and foremost, it promises to put you in a right relationship with God. A popular Christian song by Steve Green, says that “people need the Lord.” That is so very true. They most certainly do. When we come into the world, something goes horribly wrong. All of us fall subject to the effects of what theologians call “original sin.” What is original sin? Theologians say that original sin means we all originate out of a sinful nature which taints us from the very beginning of our existence. We don’t have to learn to sin, we just do. We all tend to make ourselves the center of the universe. When we make ourselves the center of the universe, then we’re lost to Him who is the origin of the universe. That’s what it means to be lost. In our lost state, God comes to find us. Like a celestial “Hound of Heaven,” He pursues us until we find Him. That doesn’t mean everyone will find the Lord, however. Some will be like the fellow who woke up in the middle of the night hungry. Opening the refrigerator door, he stood there feeling hungry but not knowing what he was hungry for. Those who do find the Lord and are found by Him, however, will discover their deepest hungers satisfied.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.