Salad Bar Faith
Some people approach what they choose to believe like they would a salad bar. They pick and choose what they like and disregard the rest. The problem with this approach is that God doesn’t give us a choice of what to believe but of whether to believe. We must be careful not to confuse these two things.
For example, people take issue with such things as whether or not God created everything in just six twenty-four-hour days, or whether there was a literal Adam and Eve, or whether Noah preserved all land animals during a worldwide flood, or whether Jesus is the only way to heaven. These things are questioned by some Christians even though they are presented forthrightly in the text of Scripture.
Nevertheless, many feel free to amend what God has said and still call it faith!
Of course, we can believe whatever we choose. But when we choose to contradict what God has communicated in His word, we have chosen doubt over faith. Once again, God doesn’t give us a choice of what to believe but whether to believe!
So, the next time someone scoffs at you for believing the Bible, explain to them that God hasn’t given you the choice of what to believe but whether to believe, and you have chosen faith.
"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right" (2 Timothy 3:16, NLT).
Playing Blind
Jasen Bracy always wanted to play football, but retinal cancer he developed as a toddler took his eyesight by the time he was age 7. How could he play a fast-paced contact sport like football if he couldn't see?
This was the question before him. Yet young Jasen would not be dissauded. As he got older, he began calling around to different youth leagues to see if there were any teams that would take a chance on a kid who was sold out to following and relying on the guidance and direction of others to make his dreams come true. He found just such a team in the Modesto Raiders.
"The way he was on the phone, I just said, 'Come on we'll figure it out,'" coach David Nichols told CBS News.
Jasen started out as a running back, but soon advanced to ... wait for it ... quarterback!
"It's all memory," Jasen said. "It's all about having trust in the player, the receiver and the team. I have to trust them 100%.
Upworthy reports:
Bracy's teammates guide him into position on the field and his dad coaches him from the sidelines using a walkie-talkie that transmits to his helmet. "After the play starts, I may tell him, 'Hey, run to your right, let's get upfield,' or 'Watch out, somebody's coming to hit you,'" Bracy Sr. said.
All that trust, all that deep leaning into guidance and direction seems to have paid off. Not long after, Bracy led the Raiders to a 33-6 win.
You do not need to be sighted to walk in the ways of the Lord. It is not our eyes, but the "eyes of our hearts" that we need opened. When we trust in His Word, His will, and his ways, our path will always be clear. His eye and His mighty hand will guide us! As He says in His word, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you" (Psalms 32:8, ESV).
Commit to the Lord's guidance, and commit His Word to your memory. Follow Jasen's example, "It's all about memory ... It's all about having trust ... [You] have to trust [Him] 100%."
"The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand" (Psalms 37: 23-24, ESV).
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV).
Playing Hide and Seek With God
According to Brittanica.com, hide-and-seek was [first] described by a Greek writer named Julius Pollux in the 2nd century BCE, which is really taking it way back. He calls the game apodidraskinda and describes it as something nearly identical to today's version of hide-and-seek.
Throughout the history of the childhood game Hide-and-Seek, with its roots believed to date back to ancient Greece [and probably beyond], there has never been a hider who didn’t know they were hiding. After all, the game often requires participants to squeeze into uncomfortable spaces and hold their breath when the seeker gets too close.
Likewise, living in denial of God’s existence takes considerable effort. For example, it is a daunting challenge to avoid the implications of an exquisitely choreographed and infinitely complex universe. Without the hand of God, how could everything materialize from a void of nothingness? And even if that could be explained, how did interdependent layers of complexity and design emerge from simplicity? And even if sense could be made of that, how did life then burst forth from the barren womb of lifeless matter?
Given the contortions required to explain the universe without appealing to a Creator, it’s safe to say that, beneath all the bother, there has never been a hider who didn’t know they were hiding from God.
This includes the eminent evolutionary biologist and professional God-dodger, Richard Dawkins, who provocatively declared, “Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.” Dawkins candidly acknowledged that living organisms “overwhelmingly impress us with the appearance of design, as if by a master watchmaker.”
Yet, in a plot twist rivaling an M. Night Shyamalan movie, Dawkins asserts that the breathtaking design we observe in the cosmos isn’t real! This baffling conclusion is based on his contention that God isn’t real either. As the logic goes, if there is no God, then we can’t attribute purpose or intent to anything that we observe in nature.
Naturalists like Dawkins argue that the cosmos only appears to be a masterpiece of design. Thus, it’s not the facts of a well-designed universe that they seek to avoid as much as the Grand Architect to whom those facts point.
Despite the appearance of a well-designed universe, we are asked to believe that the cosmos came about without conscious guidance. In other words, the universe is sending mixed messages.
But let's be real—the only telltale sign a Grand Designer would leave is, well, the appearance of design! To dismiss the idea of a Designer, in the face of the very proof one would expect to find, shows that even the most convincing evidence can be brushed aside when it doesn't fit a predetermined narrative. Even evidence acknowledged as “overwhelming” is inexplicably dismissed.
To avoid replicating this mistake, we must be willing to scrutinize our presuppositions as rigorously as we examine our facts. Otherwise, our assumptions take the driver’s seat, relegating the facts to passenger status.
"For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse" (Romans 1:20, ESV).
"By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible" (Hebrews 11:3, ESV).
"For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him" (Colossians 1:16, ESV).