Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
The persistent attacks of our evil enemies (Revelation 9) necessitate a sturdy response from each Christian. If we are to “stand” (Ephesians 6:14) in this conflict, we need each piece of “the whole armour of God” (verse 13), including “the shield of faith” (verse 17). Our “faith” is based upon the “truth” (verse 14). It is not wishful thinking; rather, it is fact-based, historical, and logically cohesive. In the context of Ephesians 6, this “faith” enables us to apply quickly and effectively what we believe to thwart Satan and the demons. A good illustration of the failure to use “the shield of faith” is found in Matthew 18:1-4 (also found in Mark 9:33-37 and Luke 9:46-48). The disciples had been arguing about who was the greatest. Yes, inexplicably, these men, in the presence of the Greatest, were disputing about which of them had the greatest faith! They had fallen into the grave error of fideism, that is, putting faith in one’s faith. We cannot say, “I have faith to stand through this problem.” Rather, we should focus on the object of our faith – Jesus, God the Son. We should say, “I have God. Really, He has me, and He will give me the strength to stand, if I only depend on Him.” Faith cannot be stronger than its object; we are blessed to know that the object of our faith is omnipotent.