GOT FAITH?

Jesus asks good questions. They're certainly worth thinking about. One of them is, ''When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" And Paul says something very similar--"Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith'' (1 Timothy 4:1). It makes you pause and wonder--how will this happen? Or better yet, how is it already happening? For we are living in those latter times. Jesus is at the door! 

One way Satan works is to keep us distracted--to fill our lives with frantic schedules or with fun things that turn our minds from heaven. God knows it's important for us to take care of our families and to have time for wholesome recreation--time that recharges our batteries and relaxes the brain. But Satan takes a simple pleasure or a simple responsibility and cranks it up so that it becomes a top priority. It fills our life to such an extent that Jesus is crowded out. The Bible is set aside, gathering dust. Our prayers become ritual or nonexistent and Christian service goes out the window.

This morning I read, "While God's servants are giving the message that the end of all things is at hand, the world is absorbed in amusements and pleasure seeking. There is a constant round of excitement that causes indifference to God and prevents the people from being impressed by the truths which alone can save them from the coming destruction" (Patriarchs and Prophets, pg. 103).

It's like the birds that Jesus talks about in His sermon on the Sower--when the seed (which is the Word of God) fell by the side of the road, the birds came and ate it up. It just had no chance to grow. 

Sometimes when I think about preparing for the coming of Jesus, I end up thinking about studying my Bible, praying,and sharing my faith. But it's much more. For what I learn from Jesus--when I sit at His feet--must permeate how I spend my time during the day. It's guarding my mind from the lure of pleasure, for one thing. Cutting off the avenues that would poison me with the values and distractions of the world. I'm fully convinced that a battle is going on for my soul--and the battle begins in my mind.

As my favorite author puts it, "Those who would not fall a prey to Satan’s devices, must guard well the avenues of the soul; they must avoid reading, seeing, or hearing that which will suggest impure thoughts. The mind must not be left to dwell at random upon every subject that the enemy of souls may suggest. The heart must be faithfully sentineled, or evils without will awaken evils within, and the soul will wander in darkness. 

“Gird up the loins of your mind,” Peter wrote, “be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; ... not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy" (Acts of the Apostles, pg. 518).