I passed a church the other day and the sign out front read, “Faith will overcome the world.” I know I should have been comforted and encouraged by that message, but it struck me as wrong. Faith is confidence or trust in some thing. It is not a force in and of itself. I believe the pastor of the church had the best intentions when he placed that message for all to see, but I feel it soft pedals the message to the point of making it ineffective.
Faith in what? The statement “Faith will overcome the world” is very universal. It is easy to apply your own viewpoint to it without a second thought. Faith in myself? Faith in the government? Faith in the “goodness” of mankind? Faith in the god of your choice?
You may object at this point and say the sign was in front of a church and that should provide the context for it. Maybe. In order for that to be true, the people who read the sign would have to know it was a Christian church and then be able to apply John 16:33 to the message on the sign. Only then could they correctly insert the proper object of faith to understand the intended message. Our faith is in the one who has overcome the world, Jesus.
Too often, we present our Savior and Lord to the world through non-threatening ecumenical statements. Consciously or subconsciously, we have all been conditioned by society. What can we do? We must follow the advice of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:5 and take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. We must learn to see things as God sees them through the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).
Will it be easy? No. Will the world embrace us? Probably not. Jesus is an offense and a stumbling block to many, but He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life for each and every person and indeed the whole world.
Grace and peace…
Steve J.
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October 27, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Jonathan
Great point. We definitely need to be conscious of the misleading possibilities in remarks that don’t get to the point.
Were we to praise wires as a source of energy for our appliances and gadgets we would get quite the odd looks precisely because everyone knows that wires are not the source; rather than getting agreement because everyone knows that wires are not the source.
I like your conclusion. The observation is not based in a desire for correctness but a burden to show a needy world that Christ is the source.
December 5, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Jeffrey W. Bennett
Steve, great points.
Too many times while trying to tell someone about Christ, I’ve been led down tangents about this, that and the other thing. The Pharisees tried that with Jesus, but he was able to keep the experience pointed toward his Father. That’s the whole reason he came, not to argue about politics, but to point a lost world to God.
That’s the right focus that resulted in our salvation. Oh how I pray for that kind of intensity.
God Bless
Jeff