Futile faith! Oh the futility of a faith made in Detroit or stitched together in a Shanghai sweat shop or that faith which is marked by plenty of numbers before a decimal point but this same faith is rocked so easily with words like “cancer” or “economic downturn!”
“For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” 1 Corinthians 15:16-17
The Best thing that ever happened to me was getting knocked flat on my religious backside with no way out but stuck looking up – This is how I know the Love of God! The best realization that ever hit me was years after hearing about Grace the first time to look back and see how God had taken me through a desert to get me to The Promised Land flowing with milk and honey called Grace!
There is a faith I see as I travel the world on this journey and it’s based on the idea that plenty is a blessing! This corrupted capitalist faith says that the more I have the more God Loves me and the more I am right and you are wrong – and this is Exactly what the devil wants you to believe as this is the comfort zone of politically correct faith in the god from work hard and do the right thing and blessings will be provided!
Not to rain on anyone’s parade but have you really checked out Jesus! Jesus left his home to wonder about the desert and say a bunch of things that totally rocked the established order!
Have you looked into the lives of his disciples? All of them had jobs of one sort or another but left them to wander around in the desert with this Jesus guy!
How about Saul later Paul? He changed his name, was disowned by all who knew him and he wandered the earth after leaving a secure future as a Christian hunter – my point?
My point is Faith! True Faith that makes a difference recognizes that when we accept Jesus we died and All things become new – TO INCLUDE the law which is no longer our master! We died and we became the friends and the children of God “By Grace (His goodness) through Faith (our Trusting in His unseen sufficiency)!
Futile faith is the idea that the new truck is a blessing from God but the cancer of Aunt Bessie is not! Futile faith is trusting God for material things and Not trusting Him that His Grace is sufficient unless you go to church and pay your tithe! Futile faith is believing that you are blessed based on how much you put in the plate, this makes God out to be a bank with great interest rates or an ATM that you stick your church attendance card into and pull out some cool new gadget, some healing for Aunt Bessie or some new profitability for your company!
Real Faith doesn’t grow until its buried under the rubble of what was “His blessings” only to find out His True Blessing is His Grace which IS sufficient for me! If you want to see this in action – read Job!
