had seen God work in numberless ways and they could not help but say, “Th is is the Lord’s doing and wondrous in our eyes.” T h e God of the B ible asks you to take H im seriously enough to test and prove Him . So m any of us follow Christ a t extrem e distances. A re we afraid and relu ctan t to come forward, to reveren tly, sincerely challenge His power? I f we are unw illing to experiment, how can we ever know the certain ty of faith? F o r example, how determined have you been in you r search for eternal life? Even Buddha, the great Ind ian teacher, vowed that he would die in his tracks unless he could find a way of life, a w ay of deliverance. T h e story is told that a fter h e thought he had found the way, a certain m an cam e asking to be shown the w ay of life. Buddha led h im to a river. I t was bath ing tim e and the seeker assumed that he was going to undergo a ritu a l puri fication. W h en th ey were some distance out in the water, Buddha suddenly grabbed h im and held his head under. F in a lly , in a gasp, the fellow wrenched him self loose and his head came above water. Quietly Buddha asked, “W h en you thought you were going to drown, what did you desire most?” “A ir,” the m an shouted. Back came Buddha’s rep ly , “W h en you w an t sal vation as much as a ir, you w ill get it.” God begs us to test H im , “if y e shall seek m e w ith a whole heart, ye shall surely find me, saith the L o rd .” Jesus said, “Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you .” If you w ill on ly open your B ible and seek, you w ill find the Lord. F a ith demands th a t we be daring enough to adventure forth pu tting Christ to the test. Perhaps we are afraid that H e w ill overhaul our lives. W ell, there is no doubt that Christ makes rad ical changes in us bu t how could it be otherwise, for there are so m any things in our lives wh ich are wrong and need correction. Thus it is th a t you never rea lly seek the Lord un til you know th a t there is something wrong w ith you. T h e r e must a lw ay s b e a sen se o f need. A young lad in prison said to his chaplain, “ I have come to the end of m y rope.” Yes, and when you have come to the end of yourself, you m ay have a new beginning as you seek the Lord more th an life itself. If you refuse to see that God is no t playing jokes when He makes H is promises, then soon you w ill dry up and die in unbelief. F a ith demands th a t you put God to the test. Faith Commits Th ird ly , fa ith comm its. No sooner had Thomas beheld the risen Christ, th an his doubts vanished like vapor. H e knelt in reverence and love, comm itting his life to Christ. “M y Lord and m y God,” he exclaimed. He did not put h is fingers in to Christ’s hands, nor his fist into His side. He simply gave him self to Christ. H e said in effect, “F rom this day forward, you w ill be m y God, m y life, m y way, m y end. I w ill serve you w ith reckless abandon of m y self to T h y w ill.” Th is is what Thomas m eant when he said, “M y Lord and m y God.” Up from the valley
comes it in the assurance that the overwhelm ing evi dence wh ich supports the fa ith w ill even tually verify itself to the questioning soul. W h a t the Christian fa ith fears more th an anyth ing else is th a t kind of unbelief that knows not, th a t cares not an d that w ill not ev en ta k e th e trou ble to be skep tical. Bu t Thomas was pot an unbeliever in the modem sense of the word. H e was a disciple of Christ who doubted. H e simply had called into question the claim wh ich the other disciples had made concerning the resurrection of Jesus. I w ish there were more disciples today who doubted in this way. I w ish we were not so complacent and nonchalan t in the w ay we affirm our fa ith in the g reat truths of th e B ible. I f y ou h a v e n ev er doubted y ou r Christian fa ith , I question v ery seriou sly th e rea lity o f y ou r fa ith . A ny person who is content to accept the teachings of Christian ity w ithout giving them carefu l consideration has a very flimsy concep tion of faith. Christian fa ith has doubts and questions. It wants to analyze the claims wh ich have been made by the church down the centuries. Of course, this kind of doubt is reveren t and honest. Th is kind of doubt u sually gives b irth to re a l faith. T h e person who seriously questions Christian teach ing is often n earer to Christ than the person who sits in the chu rch and never raises a question as to the meaning of h is faith. I would fa r ra th er talk to a person who has real problems of doubt and is seeking a solution th an to the person who has no difficulties whatever. Do you ever wonder if the B ib le is true? A re you ever puzzled about the m iracles recorded? W h a t about the startling claim s made by Jesu s Christ? If these questions and m any more like them have never troubled you, I daresay your fa ith is bu ilt upon sandy soil which m ay easily slip away when the g reat crises of life meet you. Faith Tests Secondly, fa ith tests. Notice th a t Thomas not on ly doubted bu t h e w as p rep a red to b eliev e. “ I w an t to put m y fingers into the n a il prints and m y hand into his side — then I w ill believe.” Thomas was not a doubter because he thought it was the popular th ing to do. H e was not like th e young high school student who wanted to be an agnostic because he liked the sound of the word. He doubted, but more th an th a t he was ready to experiment. If you have m erely accepted what others have told you about Jesu s, then how do you know that He can save from sin, heal the brokenhearted, raise the fallen , heal the sick, com fort the sorrowing, give friendship to the lonely, strength to the w eary, grace fo r every tria l? In short, if you have never put the Lord to the test on the battlefield of life, how can you be sure that He is or can be th e cap tain of you r salvation? Th is call to put fa ith to the test runs throughout the B ib le like an electric current. I t gives energy and power to everything th a t is said. T h e men of the B ible witnessed out of the abundance of th e ir exper ien ce because they had put God to the test. In so m any ways th ey had proved th a t seeing is believing. Th ey
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The King's Business/June 1957
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