Balking at Taking the Leap of Faith

Monday, April 28, 2014    Balking at Taking the Leap of Faith

2 John 1: 7-13

What we believe about Jesus determines our passion for him, and the level of our obedience to his commands. John’s concern for his sister church was for their fidelity to the core beliefs of the truth of Christ. John is stressing how important it is for every Christian to have a solid foundation for their faith. This foundation is built upon an understanding of the nature of Jesus, his mission, his resurrection, and his ascension. Simply put, a Christian has been born into the family of God, and this is made possible by the forgiveness of our sins, and the infilling of God’s Holy Spirit. It is Jesus who came in the flesh, who was crucified and raised to life again, who makes it possible for us to call upon the name of God and be saved.

In John’s world, just as it is in our culture, these core beliefs were being eroded. Little by little, the church was being influenced to question whether Jesus was actually fully human. How could, some would ask, the actual Son of God be killed? How could the actual Son of God become sin? How could a Holy God allow His only begotten Son to die for sinners? Because these questions were not answerable according to their carnal minds, and because they balked at taking the leap of faith, these detractors of the truth began to minimize the humanity of Christ.

Today, not many churches hold onto the historic confessions of the Christian faith, like the Apostles’ Creed, or the Nicene Creed. I believe such churches let go of these affirmations of faith at their peril, because if they are not affirming the core values of the Christian faith, they risk fulfilling the Apostle Paul’s prophesy: “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

• Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.