By Mike Farmer
Director of Missions, McMinn-Meigs Baptist Association, Athens
In a world that is changing almost by the hour, most of us are longing for something stable and sure. How does a person without faith in a living God face the chaos of the world today? Even if you have faith, these days can be difficult.
How do we find stability? We find it in the Bible. We find it in having a relationship with the God who created us. We find it by surrendering our lives to Him.
Most of the world does not understand this concept. It sounds crazy to them. We have to remember that the god of this age (Satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot know the light of truth (II Corinthians 4:4). The evidence of this is displayed around us almost every day.
How can we get them to understand what we know? Some will tell them they need to read the Bible. But, we forget they probably can’t understand it even if they read it. Also, how can we expect them to pay attention to what the Bible says when many of the Christians of our day don’t respect what it says. If the Bible is God’s Word, we not only need to read it. We need to obey it!
How do we move those in darkness to the light?
Mike Farmer
Look at what the early Christians faced. They faced their fellow Jews who denied that Jesus was the Messiah and had no real understanding of God’s Word (the Old Testament). They faced the Roman world where there were many gods, and the story of God’s great work through Jesus Christ was a story being passed around by word of mouth until it was written down some years later.
Jim Dennison says, “early believers demonstrated the truth of Scripture by demonstrating its relevance in their lives.” Jesus’ work in the world changed who they were.
He goes on to say, “they loved each other and they loved those who did not love them. And they became the mightiest spiritual movement the world has ever seen.”
Before the world is going to understand the Bible or know our God, they are going to need to see the work of Jesus in our lives.
I am not promoting a “witness by the way I live” mentality. I am challenging all of us to earn the right to be heard by living differently than the people in our world today. May they see something unusual about our approach to life and may we follow that up with a witness to the life-changing Gospel of the Savior, Jesus Christ. B&R
