FAITH BATTLES

 

By Joneil Alcock

 

The cornerstone of Christianity is the faith in who Christ says He is. Those who come to believe in Christ must first believe that Christ is their Saviour, receive His promise of eternal salvation and then become the person that Christ wills him to be. This last stage of discipleship or developing Christ-likeness is not without its obstacles and hurdles. It seems we come to Christ in faith and have to use that same faith to battle our fleshly desires or instead fall constantly into sin.

 

This of course, is as it should be. How else would we grow? How else would we build that same faith? How else would we manifest Christ on Earth?

 

That great chapter on faith (Hebrews 11) states, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) It continues to show the great Old Testament heroes of faith such as Noah, Abraham, Moses and David and testifies of the trials they went through and how faith in God transformed them to do the things they did.

 

Faith Under Frustration

 

It is almost sometimes as if our faith is under frustration, and that we test and battle not only our circumstances but the very faith that brought us along this path. Our minds grapple against, “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life,”(1 John 2:15-17) which the Apostle John knew was not of the Father but of the world. We come upon battles of faith which we must win or fall to the compulsions of feelings of pleasure, fame or fortune.

King Solomon knew all about these battles, having acquired great wisdom and being richer than anyone else before him or after him would become. He frustratingly queried, “All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1 :2-3). In chapter 2 of Ecclesiastes, he declares that he would make “a test of pleasure” (verse 1), only to declare later that he found that also to be vanity. (verse 11).

 

In terms of dreams and chase of fame, he declared “For when dreams increase, empty words grow many, but do you fear God?” (Ecclesiastes 5:7) (For in a multitude of dreams there is futility, and ruin in a flood of words). In terms of fortune, he stated, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money; nor he who loves wealth, with gain: this also is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).

 

His conclusion by the final chapter of Ecclesiastes would be, ‘The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.”(Ecclesiastes 12:13) We frustrate ourselves with the meaningless wanderings after the things of this world, but what God wants us to do is to constantly go deeper into Him. What is His purpose for our lives? How can we live our lives to give glory to God? This seems to be the main call of a disciple and follower of Christ. Stray too far from this main “duty” and we fall into a striving after wind.

 

Feelings Of Pleasure

 

As a passionate leader King David would be the unfortunate main example of straying into falling under the sin of pleasure and lust. The same passion that led him to kill Goliath, lead armies, write numerous Psalms and hymns and joyfully celebrate on the return of the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem; would cause him to desire Bathsheba, Uriah the Hittite’s wife. (2 Samuel 11)

 

As a consequence of having sex with her, then later causing her husband’s death, David’s first child with her dies, his son Absalom leads a insurrection, has sex with ten of his father’s concubines (to stake his claim to the throne) and plunges the country into civil war. There is always a consequence to sin and in the case of a leader it can impact an entire nation.

 

Fame

 

Absalom’s rise to power followed his killing of his half-brother Amnon who had slept with his half-sister Tamar, He would, years later, go on a campaign to steal the hearts of the men of Israel by giving counsel in the gate at Jerusalem. He raised a revolt in Hebron and declares himself King but unfortunately falls in a battle at Ephraim. 2 Samuel 14:25 describes him as the most handsome man in the kingdom, with a head of hair that was long and luxurious.

 

It is the same lust for power and vanity of his looks that become a snare for him in Ephraim as his hair caught in the thick of branches of a great oak and Joab (commander of David’s army) thrusted three (3)  darts into his heart and killed him.

 

Fortune

 

A telling story of the consequences of fortune chasing is told in Joshua 7, as the nation of Israel falls in battle against Ai, right after their rousing  victory at Jericho. It was made known that the reason for this was the taking of devoted things by Achan who along with his entire family and belongings was eventually stoned and burned to set things right again with God.

 

Jesus Tempted

Jesus Christ, would be tempted by the devil in like manner right after baptism by his cousin John the Baptist. In fact, we are told that the Spirit led Him into the wilderness for a period of fasting. This story is briefly mentioned in Mark 1:12-13 but in more detail in both Luke 4:1-13 and
Matthew 4:1-11.

 

Christ battles the need to feed Himself and turn stones to bread (feelings of pleasure). He battles the need to showcase Himself as the Son of God by throwing Himself down from the temple (fame) and He battles the need to stake claim to the kingdoms of the world through Satan (fortune). In all of these Satan preambles his tempting by stating “if you are the Son of God,” except when he shows Christ the kingdoms of the world. Christ, of course, was and is the ruler of all things created, tangible and intangible and needs no acceptance from a created fallen being. However, Satan strives with Him to see if He would try to prove His power and kingship. But there was no need for it. The Father had already stated who he was and hence there was no need for show and pomp. (Luke 3:22; Mark 1:11; Matthew 3:17).

 

In our own battles of faith we can follow Christ’s example and recall what the commandments of God are (as Christ quoted “It is Written” three times from Deuteronomy). But we can also realize that we have become heirs with Christ and hence joint heirs to the everlasting kingdom (Romans 8:17). Jesus Christ is our King but he is also our brother/friend. The faith in Him becomes a relationship that calls us to a deeper understanding of self and a mind lifted to heavenly thinking. We are like aliens or sojourners in a sometimes cold and dark world, but we are called to be the light (Matthew 5:14 -16) in it and we are not alone.