Study 11 - 2007: May 21st - 27th 2007

Is Faith a Crutch?

“Jesus said; “What gives life is God’s Spirit; man’s power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God’s life-giving Sprit”. __ Because Jesus’ teaching was too hard, many of Jesus’ followers turned back and would not go with him any more. So he asked the twelve disciples, “And you- would you also like to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. And now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God.” John Chapter 6:verse 63, and verses 66-69 (Good News Bible).

Most successful golfers and sportspeople have a lot of confidence in themselves. When combined with ability this helps them succeed. Having confidence with ability are two key ingredients to being successful at golf. There are though a few exceptions to this.
In the same way many golfers who really struggle around the course have less confidence in themselves and this feeling also contributes to their struggle.

How we think about our confidence and ourselves is important in life as well.

In our modern world of technological advances there is a lot of confidence that human intelligence hold the keys to life. How we communicate constantly changes as we discover new forms of technology. Medical research is chipping away at diseases and people are living longer.

But we get knocked back in our confidence when the rain does not come, when we cannot avoid the wars in our world or overcome the enormous poverty, sickness and death in so many countries. We are caught up in this irony of life being so advanced, yet so powerless to bring quality of life right across the broad spectrum of our world.

Jesus said that it is God’s Spirit that gives life. Our power is of no use at all. Some people might find this offensive to hear as they did when Jesus spoke these words. As a result, some of his followers left him.

Some say that faith in God is like a crutch, a weakness when you need something to believe in. I am very happy to agree with this. The other alternative is to put your trust in human beings and that sounds foolish to me. Like Jesus said; we have no power in ourselves to give life, life was already there and there is nothing we can do to bring rain, stop the fighting in the world or cure sickness, poverty and death.

Admitting to our weakness is one of the keys that will open the door to get to know God. When we have confidence in ourselves we lock God out, because in effect we make ourselves God and the arbiter of our decisions and beliefs.
To allow God to help shape our belief and actions opens the door to a whole new world of ideas and actions. These are found for us in the bible but can be summarised like this;

• Love God with all your heart soul mind and strength.
• Love your neighbour as much as you love yourself.

Jesus invites us to live this way, and he promises us that he will give us eternal life. Rather than a crutch, this is a place of great strength and peace. There is no other place to go.

Prayer, Lord God, Erode away our self-confidence and replace it with a trust in you. Amen.