What If You Believed in Vain?

Recently I attended a funeral where the officiating pastor gave an invitation to salvation. He told us Jesus came to give us abundant life. As we bowed in prayer, he promised all we had to do to receive this abundant life was “step over the line!” To do this, we were to raise our hands.

After the amen, the minister announced that many people had “stepped over the line.” “Whoo-hoo!” he shouted.

We have a great gospel to proclaim. Those who receive it are saved unto eternal life. But the Apostle Paul raises a very disturbing question about our faith: Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain (1 Corinthians 15:1-2, my emphasis).

How is it possible to believe “in vain?”

Three Stark Contrasts Between Religion and Christianity

Last time I spoke about discovering that religion and Christianity are two very different things. This came home to me again as I studied the story of the woman whom Jesus healed of a terrible back problem. It’s a long passage, but worth your time to read.

¹⁰ Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹ And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” ¹³ And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. ¹⁴ But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” ¹⁵ Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? ¹⁶ And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” ¹⁷ As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. (Luke 13)

The way the religious establishment (in this case the lay-leader of a synagogue) responded to this healing illustrates three stark contrasts between religion and Christ.

Losing My Religion and Gaining My Savior

I grew up in a home where going to church and practicing religion were regarded as part of your civic duty. It’s what good people did. I was taught that it didn’t matter much what religion you chose – “all roads lead to the same place. Just get on one of them and stay on it.” So I did.

But then my father got very sick and we were unable to attend church on Sundays. After he died, we never went back. By then I didn’t care about civic duty. My religion left me empty and I was done with it.

How to Wait on God While You Wait

I hate to wait. Slow traffic, grocery lines, plane delays, doctor’s offices – all drive me a little nuts.

Today I decided to get my hair cut. (Insert your own joke here. I still have some hair to cut, okay?) My favorite barber had another guy in the chair, and somebody was ahead of me. It turned out to be a forty-five minute wait.

But I’m learning to “wait on God” while I wait, so today I didn't fret and fidget like I usually do. I had a good prayer time with the Lord.

Why don’t we pray while we wait? Lots of reasons, I guess. It’s hard to pray with so many distractions. People talking, traffic noise, waiting room TV’s blaring. Plus, with the advent of the iPhone, it’s just as easy to text, surf the net, email, check the scores, or even catch up on reading.

Why not pray? Maybe “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) is meant for just such opportunities.

So, while it's hard to pray in a room full of people, or during a hot, honking traffic jam, it can be done. In order to overcome the noise and the chaos of waiting, I think you need two things: a prayer plan, and a way to focus.

Mighty Fortress

My fears, my sins, my pride

Rage and foam and crash,

Broken against Your eternal shore.

I recede, spent and fading,

Until I run again

But gentled against the smooth warm sand.

You stand serene and steady,

A mountain in the frantic sea,

Mighty fortress.

I finally slip and sigh

And feel Your granite, forged eternal

Above and below me.

"What is God's Promise?" - Casting Your Burdens on the Lord, Part 3

When we cast our burdens on the Lord, what happens? What does He promise to do about our distress and pain? Cast your burden on the LORD is His command, in Psalm 55:22. And His promise follows: and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

God’s promise in Psalm 55:22 is in two parts. He makes a promise for right now, while we’re struggling with our burdens, and He also makes a promise for forever, for any and all burdens we might experience in the course of our lives.

Casting Your Burden on the Lord - Part 2: "What are Your Options?"

Everybody has burdens, and Psalm 55:22 tells us what to do with them. Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

Last time I asked “what is your burden?” Burdens may seem heavy, wearisome, painful, unfair, and destructive. But they are also given to us by our wise, kind, loving, and all-powerful Heavenly Father. 

So in this post I want to focus on how we’re supposed to deal with our burdens.

What are your options?

As in most things, there are only a limited number of possibilities to deal with the burdens of life.

1. Resent them. Sometimes people express their resentment at the burdens they carry by bitterness and blaming. But resentment only increases the weight of the burden. Not to mention that ultimately the resentment is aimed at the God of the universe. Not a good option.