Christ is the Crisis Point

A famous author I never heard of recently commented during an NPR
interview that he had lost the capacity for faith. Some people cook,
some people sing, some people believe in eternal consequences. He
doesn’t. He did, but changed his mind.

The Bible says we’re each given a measure of faith and Jesus says if
its as small as a mustard seed we can move mountains. So what does

one gain when one abandons such a small grain of truth? Perspective
was the author’s claim. A natural world without supernatural
influence. From my bedside table a candle looks brighter than the
nearest star, so much for perspective.

The apostles knew their faith was small and asked the Lord to increase
it. The father of a possessed boy that Jesus cured cried, “I do
believe, heal my unbelief!”  Folks that met Jesus saw a use for faith.

A popular T-shirt says, “Everybody has to believe in something, I
believe I’ll have another beer.” Because we have free will, belief is
optional. “Unless I touch his hands and put my finger in His side I
will not believe.”

People talk of a crisis of faith as if it is an occasional bump in the
road. Faith in crisis is the road. “Not my will but Thine be done.” To
choose to be done with God is the not so original sin. A short
circuit, not a short cut. If the blind leads the blind, both with fall
into a ditch.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. I am not making this up.
Without faith it is impossible to be pleased with God, it is
impossible to believe we are loved by Him and that He loves the world.

Reason demands plausibility. Cause and effect. This leads to that.
Hundreds of eyewitnesses saw Jesus suffer a horrible public execution
and rise from the dead. Unbelievable. That’s the point.

James (2:19) says, “You believe there is one God. You do well. Even
demons believe-and tremble. But do you want to know, O foolish man,
that faith without works is dead?”

I could be wrong but I’m wondering if one of us, maybe many of us, neglected to offer a drink of water, a cup of mercy to the reasonably famous author and it cost him his
faith. It wasn’t God who held back, it was us.

Will Schmit

Will Schmit is a volunteer outreach prison minister for Lifehouse Church in McKinleyville Ca. He is the author of Head Lines A Sixty Day Guide to Personal Psalmistry and Jesus Inside A Prison Minister's Memoir and Training Manual both available at Amazon Books and www.schmitbooks.com. The website also includes poetry, ministry updates, and music downloads from Bring To Glory a CD of spoken word with coffee house jazz.

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