Berry Patch Blog: !010 – November 1. – Faithless Faith

Study from God`s Word_ Accounts from the Gospel about the "last supper" and Jesus` preparing to get the Lamb of God from Matt 26, Mark 14, and Luke 22 as good as John 12 _ Passage for Reflection: John 12: 42 - 43 _ NIV 42 Yet at the same time many even among the leadership believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their religion for fear they would be put out of the synagogue;

43 for they loved human praise more than praise from God.My Diary for Today: As sometimes we say when incongruities are evident in someone`s story or the report of a set of circumstances, like the one in today`s devotional text, "What`s amiss with this picture?"Supposedly we have Jewish leadership in these latter years of Jesus` life on earth who "believe" in Jesus. Yet, they are unwilling - or unable - to bear in the gap for that trust by confessing their beliefs to the Pharisees, who were the so-called guardians of the Temple, because of fears that they`d be excluded from worshipping in the Temple, which would have shunned them from inclusion in the community of Jewish faith there in Jerusalem. So, as my title implies for my devotional entry today, these men had somewhat of a "faithless faith." Today, we Christians might have called them "nominal christians," because the profundity of their religion was only intellectual and not a deep/abiding/living faith in Christ.And that brings up our application challenge from Dr. Smith from reading and meditating on the textbook for today. Dr. Smith asks, "In what ways have I denounced my faith by refusing to openly acknowledge what I really believe?" I would require that the solution to this question catches many of us coming up suddenly in the astuteness of our faith over the years of our walk as Christians. It surely has me.There are any bit of times in my walk of religion where I`ve been "chicken" and unwilling to stand openly for Christ in the world arena of life. Quite a total of times, I`ve heard people mock Christ or Christianity; and I kept my mouth shut. There have been times in my past when I heard people spelling out their beliefs FOR abortion; and I didn`t stand up for living the way I should get done as a Christian. And perhaps you have had times when you were a voice of "faithless faith," not standing forth as you should have.Well, fortunately we get a forgiving Lord and Savior, Who in the verses following today`s text declares (see John 12: 47), 47 "If anyone hears My words but does not hold them, I do not guess that person. For I did not amount to evaluate the world, but to keep the world." No, when Jesus walked the world as the God-Man, He was not there as a JUDGE. He was there as the Lamb of God, to have His spirit so that those of us who own REAL faith in Him will be eternally. It is one day, when He will occur again to be the Justice of mankind; and so all will give to bear in the gap for our trust in Him. And it will just be those who hold true faith who will be worthy of His saving grace.But once that saving faith has been expressed - truly from the heart; and we become Christian, receiving the saving grace offered by the line of Christ, it will never be acceptable to stand quiet and decline to find our faith. No, _ the Holy Spirit, residing in me now as a Christian, rumbles His conviction when I am quiet, knowing I should speak or support for my faith. And I don`t think - and I certainly pray - that I would now be unwilling to bear in the gap for Jesus in circumstances which called for my witness. I trust and beg that anyone reading here would step ahead with me when and if the time presented itself to be a see for our faith, never again living in a "faithless faith."My Petition for Today: Lord, give us the religion of our religion to be witnesses for our faith. Amen