How Do You Define Your Faith?
Let your eyes look straight ahead,
Fix your gaze directly before you.
Make level paths for your feet
And take only ways that are firm.
Do not swerve to the right or the left;
Keep your foot from evil.
-- Proverbs 4:25-27
What do you believe? Seriously. You call yourself a Christian but what does that mean to you? At your very core, what do you believe and how do you think your beliefs coexist with other beliefs?
You may call yourself a John 3:16 Christian. You may claim Jesus as your Savior. But if you believe deep inside that there are other ways to get to heaven, then you don’t believe the Bible. You don’t believe what you say you believe.
Years ago I was far more open to other religions. It wasn’t just that I was tolerant. I’m still that. I have no right, nor do you, to force my beliefs on anyone else. God gave us all a choice. I choose Him but others have the same right to choose a different path.
I didn’t really understand the dangers of intermarriage. I’m not talking about race here. I’m talking about the intermarriage of religions. The Bible warns against it. We can see the destruction Solomon and others faced when they took pagan wives. I guess somehow I believed that the people I knew could make it all work out. Love conquers everything, doesn’t it?
Not really. No. It doesn’t. As I’ve grown in my walk of faith, as I’ve moved closer to God, I can’t imagine not doing everything in my power to make sure that those I love know Jesus as Lord and Savior. It’s the only ticket to heaven. Yes, they have a choice but when children are raised to know Jesus the choice almost comes naturally.
And yet we have generations of Christians who really don’t know Jesus. They check a box on a form. Sometimes they may attend church. Probably they rarely pick up a Bible and prayer is something they use only in desperation. They aren’t really Christians. I know you understand what I mean.
So I’ll ask you again: What do you believe? Because there is one God. One. And there’s one way to eternal life in heaven and that’s through belief in Jesus Christ as God’s Son and in His resurrection. There are many things in the Bible that are open to interpretation. That’s not one of them.
It’s scares me sometimes because people who think a label defines them don’t have anything to cling to when they walk through the valley. And we all walk through the valley sooner or later. Take a few minutes and really examine who you are in Christ. Talk to God about it. This is one point you want to have firm in your mind and in your heart.
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