Faith in the Trenches

What is faith? Many today, even in the churches, want to water down the gospel of Jesus Christ into nothing more than a feel good tonic. Christianity is made to be nothing more than a big celebration full of fun and games. Nothing challenging, nothing hard, no thorns, just roses. When everything is fun and feels good, and you live a basically “good” life, God will certainly let you into His heaven. At least that is the theory.

All too often Christianity is being sold with a consumer mentality in an attempt to make it sound more palatable and popular. But is this really faith? I would venture that it is not. In this context, faith is lessened and Scripture is misinterpreted. People are actually being led astray rather than being led to God.

What is faith? A rundown of Hebrews chapter eleven gives a long list of Old Testament saints who are described as people who lived by faith. Difficult times were faced valiantly, sometimes even the face of certain death. In each case, they faced the circumstances they did by trusting in God alone. In each case, they came through the hard times with their love for God intact. That is faith.

The best examples I can think of are found in the book of Daniel. In chapter one, when the king tried to indoctrinate them into the “good times” of Babylonian life, he and his friends stood their ground and remained faithful to God. In the second chapter, when faced with certain death, Daniel trusted God and His Word, kept his wits about him, prayed fervently, and God gave him the interpretation of the dream and he lived on.

Continuing on in chapter 3, Daniel’s three friends were thrown into a fiery furnace because of their faith in God and their refusal to worship an idol set up by the king. Note their answer: “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Dan. 3:17-18).

Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego trusted God, remained faithful even in the face of certain death, and let God meet the challenge in whatever way He would. Whether in life or in death they proved what is true faith. As we all know, the end result of their faith was life even through the fire.

Talking to His disciples, Jesus said, “If anyone comes after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Mt. 16:24-25). That was true for Daniel and his friends. That is true for you and me as well.

Christianity is not always fun and games. It is not always what feels good. It is trust in a God who loves you. It is serving Him and taking a stand for Him whenever He so calls. It can be, and often is, very hard. Yet the rewards are eternal. Trust Jesus for your salvation, follow Him wherever He leads, no matter what the cost. That is true faith. That is faith in the trenches. Amen.