New Year’s Reflections Part 6

The fight of faith (1Tim.6:12) is to come every day into a relationship with Him, but that does not mean you have to sit down and read your Bible for 20 minutes every morning. That would become salvation by works. The OT Patriarchs did not have Bibles! The fight of faith is to fight where the battle is, not where it isn’t. If happiness comes from relationships, then spiritual happiness comes from the same source. Read Heb.12:2. This is the true battlefront. 
 
2Cor.5:21 talks about the exchange made at the cross! He offers to trade your sin for His perfection & His life for your death. This is the greatest trade ever and when you make the trade it leads to certainty in the Christian life & assurance with an eternal destiny. That’s real happiness. 
 
It is Calvary that demonstrates our worth & it is Calvary that produces true faith. On the cross, Jesus proved the worth of every human being & He also showed us the difference between being helpless & worthless. We are helpless to escape the terminal illness of this planet, but He showed us we are not worthless. 
          
We are told that in the last days the earth will be almost void of true faith. (Amos.8:11,12) Like the men on the Emmaus road, our faith may be shattered (Luke.24:21). This was because Jesus’ words about the event had not registered. So where will your faith come from to endure the final crisis? A crisis is not all bad, it can reveal the direction you are headed. 
 
The Emmaus road disciples were discouraged, fearful & doubting. However, they came back from that experience with a stronger allegiance, trust & faith than before. The crisis they were going through did not produce the change, it gave them an insight into their own hearts & it motivated a change based on the resurrected Christ. Crisis brings an understanding of our condition; it helps us recognize our need to turn to the resurrected Christ before the final crisis after which there will be no opportunity to change. Remember we fall the way we are leaning. Face the new year looking to Jesus.