Legalism tempts us to rely on our own strength as the source of our salvation, even if it is the strength of our faith. As Christians, we know that we are justified by faith alone. But that does not mean that faith is what justifies us. Instead, God justifies us through faith in Christ. This is an important distinction. Even as we champion faith, we might easily start to rely on the intensity of our faith instead of the object of our faith. If we trust in the intensity of our faith, we are really trusting in ourselves. But saving faith looks away from self to Christ, and he alone has the power to save us.
Continue reading ““I Believe; Help My Unbelief””Reflections on sleep, fear, and faith
Sleep is a dangerous enterprise. Every night we lie down unconscious and vulnerable for multiple hours. This is why it is safe to assume that most of us lock our doors at night before we go to bed. I go through my routine every night: close the garage door; lock the garage door; lock the back sliding door; lock the front door. I never set an alarm on my phone to remind me to lock the doors. I always remember and I always do it. It never fails. My wife never asks me to lock the doors, she just knows that I do it. And if I am gone, she never forgets to do the same thing even though she is not in the habit of doing it. Why do we do this? And why do I think it is safe to assume that virtually everyone who reads this blog post does the same thing? Is it simply because more crime happens at night? In actual fact, a lot of crime happens in broad daylight. But the reason we lock our doors at night is because we know that we are about to lie down and become unconscious. We do not know what might be going on around us while we are sleeping or who might be awake in our presence so we try to make ourselves as safe as possible before going to bed. Continue reading “Reflections on sleep, fear, and faith”