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

Simple Faith

March 13, 2016 Background Scripture: Mark 10:17 – 31 Lesson Passage: Mark 10:17 – 31 Many times we would rather do great deeds than exercise simple faith. There are times when we would prefer to depend on our own ability and intellect than trust a superior power. These attitudes can be exaggerated when we have great positions or substance to rely on. But if God required great wealth or substance, intellect or social attainment, or even physical strength, then salvation would not be available to everyone. Those physical things will always separate people into different categories or social castes. Thanks be to God that eternal salvation does not depend on our substance or ability. Yet, the simplicity of God’s plan will often leave many people perplexed and stumbling. Much of this appears to be the case with the man in today’s lesson who ran to Jesus one day seeking eternal life. When today’s text is combined with the account as recorded by Matthew and Luke, we learn that this was a young man who happened to be a ruler. All three accounts indicate that he was very wealthy materially. What Jesus offered him would have required an act of faith on the young man’s part. Instead, the young man was looking for a deed he could perform in exchange for eternal life. From a worldly perspective, it appears that the man had it all. He still had his youth, he had worldly position (fame), and he was very rich. Beyond that, how he responded to Jesus’ statements about good deeds indicates that he also had good character. It’s truly amazing that a young wealthy ruler could still have impeccable character from his childhood. This is what likely brought him to Jesus. He knew he was a good person but he also knew that something was missing in his life. Put another way, he was asking Jesus how he could behave better so that his character would be good enough for him to earn eternal life. As I stated above, he had it all: youth, position, and wealth. Jesus advised him to give up two of those: position and wealth. He would give up his position to follow Jesus and he would give up his wealth to donate to the poor. The gospel writers record that the thought of giving up his wealth caused him grief. I think it is prudent to take a brief look at grief before we rush to judgment concerning this young man’s decision. Grief is a normal human emotional response brought on by the loss or perceived loss of something in one’s life. But the greater question is: What value did he place on eternal life? I believe this is one of the challenges of evangelism. What does it take for a spiritually loss person to value eternal life more than whatever they have or wish to acquire in this life? Through lessons such as this, we are reminded that greed and hoarding are powerful attitudes. We may be willing to add but greed will make it unpalatable to consider giving up anything. How many times did we hear the invitation to accept Jesus before we surrendered? What held us back? There is no record of anyone being saved by performing some great act or kind deed. Spiritual salvation still requires simple faith. Do you trust God to save you based on His plan or would you rather develop your own plan and try to negotiate with God to accept yours? We are saved by grace through faith. God has a plan and all He requires of us is simple faith. Robert C. Hudson March 2, 2016