Struggling Faith

March 20, 2016 Background Scripture: Mark 14:26 – 31; 66 – 72 Lesson Passage: Mark 14:26 – 31; 66 – 72 I am often intrigued by the “Unified Topic” chosen for these bible lessons. Some topics make it easier to do an exposition of the text while others not so much. The topic of this lesson is altogether different. It would be easy for many Christians to declare that this topic is the story of my life. What Christian has not struggled with their faith at some point—and quite frankly many points along the way? As we take a look at the text, we are reminded that sometimes we set ourselves up for failure by placing too much confidence in our flesh. Too often we believe we have the determination, the will power, the intellect, or whatever we believe it will take to persevere once we make up our minds about an issue or situation. This “can do” attitude seems to be welcomed as a dare or challenge by the devil. At times it seems as though this very attitude is perceived as an open invitation by the devil to come into our lives and have his way with us. The prophet said it best when he said “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” We so soon forget that we are easily tripped up by what’s on the inside of us. Additionally, we are admonished by the proverb writer to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not to your own understanding.” and “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” In spite of all this biblical guidance, we still find opportunities to believe that we are spiritually stronger than we really are. After all, we mature from children into young adults by learning how to be more independent of others and able to stand “on our own two feet”. As Christians we humbly return to a childlike state where we again learn to be dependent except now we depend on God. The more spiritually mature we become, the more we submit our plans and situations to God for His approval or denial. We struggle in our faith when we attempt to bypass God and depend on ourselves or other people. In today’s lesson, Peter was very confident in his determination to be a supporter of Jesus even if it caused him his life. Of course Peter also had his own idea about what that meant to him in terms of how he would choose to lose his life. Peter clearly expected to go down swinging as we can surmise from the verses not included in our text. John identified Peter as the disciple who cut off the ear of one of the high priest’s servants when they came to arrest Jesus. It is not likely that Peter expected Jesus to rebuke him for acting violently towards those who came to apprehend Jesus. Surely it added insult to injury that Jesus healed the man’s ear. Peter was confident in his ability to fight and defend himself and his friends. This required no faith on Peter’s part. Peter needed faith to be submissive to this type of violence and trust God with the outcome. It was at this point where Peter struggled. It was easier to deny that he knew Jesus than it was to forgo his own ability and trust God. One would think that Peter’s example would strengthen Christians everywhere to submit to God’s will and His way and forgo our own resources and abilities. That is where we struggle with faith. If we are to get pass this, we must look beyond Peter’s struggle and see Jesus’ example. We can continue to have struggling faith or we can submit to God in humility and in due time He will exalt us. Robert C. Hudson March 4, 2016