What do you value most about Christianity?

Do you have peace?

Do you feel condemned?

Galatians 5:22
²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Have you crucified your sinful nature today?

Psalm 103:2,3
²Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits- ³who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases

Proverbs 14:30
³⁰A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

Think back to a time when you doubted, when you felt that you lacked faith, when you had lost all of your faith. We don’t know what’s ahead, even if we think that we’re in control. We have to live in faith that life will continue as we expect it to. Every moment, we’re exercising a subconscious belief system that all is well and we are invincible.

However, when things do go wrong our faith is challenged and we must make decisions on whether we allow those trials to defeat us or whether we will press on and overcome.

Who do you know who has stepped away from the faith?

What affect does that have on you?

How can you hold tight to your faith when you see others fall away?

A story is told in which there was a professor of philosophy at a college who was a deeply committed atheist. His primary goal for one required class was to spend the entire semester attempting to prove that God couldn’t exist. His students were always afraid to argue with him because of his impeccable logic. For twenty years, he had taught this class and no one had ever had the courage to go against him. Sure, some had argued in class at times, but no one had ever ‘really gone against him’ (you’ll see what I mean later).

Nobody would go against him because he had a reputation. At the end of every semester, on the last day, he would say to his class of Cartoon of the legend 300 students, “If there anyone here who still believes in Jesus, stand up!” In twenty years, no one had ever stood up. They knew what he was going to do next. He would say, “because anyone who does believe in God is a fool. If God existed, he could stop this piece of chalk from hitting the ground and breaking. Such a simple task to prove that he is God, and yet he can’t do it.” And every year, he would drop the chalk onto the tile floor of the classroom and it would shatter into a hundred pieces. The students could do nothing but stop and stare. Most of the students were convinced that God couldn’t exist. Certainly, a number of Christians had slipped through, but for 20 years, they had been too afraid to stand up.

Well, a few years ago, there was a freshman who happened to get enrolled in the class. He was a Christian, and had heard the stories about this professor. He had to take the class because it was one of the required classes for his major and he was afraid. But for 3 months that semester, he prayed every morning that he would have the courage to stand up no matter what the professor said or what the class thought. Nothing they said or did could ever shatter his faith, he hoped.

Finally the day came. The professor said, “If there is anyone here who still believes in God, stand up!” The professor and the class of 300 people looked at him, shocked, as he stood up at the back of the classroom. The professor shouted, “You FOOL!! If God existed, he could keep this piece of chalk from breaking when it hit the ground!” He proceeded to drop the chalk, but as he did, it slipped out of his fingers, off his shirt cuff, onto the pleats of his pants, down his leg, and off his shoe. As it hit the ground, it simply rolled away, unbroken.

The professor’s jaw dropped as he stared at the chalk. He looked up at the young man and then ran out of the lecture hall. The young man who had stood up proceeded to walk to the front of the room and share his faith in Jesus for the next half hour. 300 students stayed and listened as he told of God’s love for them and of his power through Jesus.

In cases like this one, as well as the Biblical account of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we are able to see that it is God who provides the answers to our struggles and protects us in times of danger, but we must take the first step and stand up for what we believe in.

In everything that you do, you should know how and why you are making the choices you’re making. If something isn’t working, you need to look into why you’re doing it the way you are. Perhaps there’s a better way.

Always know that God can direct you in the right way, His perfect way.

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Be blessed and go with Christ this week. Know that as each Sunday, Wednesday, or even Tuesday night passes, that you are not attending church, but you are the Church. Live in His presence and know His peace.