I was going through my books, tossing some I don’t need. For a book lover, that’s hard. Anyway, I came across “Every Mother’s Nightmare” by Charles Bosworth. It describes a savage attack on Stacy, the teenaged daughter of Jude Govreau and on Mari Winzen’s three-year-old son Tyler. Stacy was babysitting Tyler when an intruder broke in and brutally murdered the children. This book didn’t get tossed; it was a significant moment in my life.
I met Jude when she appeared on a TV program I was hosting, “On Main Street.” The program explored the dimensions and benefits of faith in life. When I asked Jude how that indescribably horrible experience impacted her faith, she answered, “It took it away.” I can understand that.
We’ve all had experiences that weakened, maybe took away warm and fuzzy thoughts about God. In the Bible the word “faith” has two aspects. One is our feelings toward God. Nothing wrong with that. How many of us tear up when we worship on Christmas or Easter? That’s our emotions, our feelings; it’s subjective. But in the Bible there is another aspect to faith, and in fact it’s even more important than how we’re feeling about God. This aspect is objective, not subjective. It is outside of us, external, not within us, internal. This other aspect of faith wasn’t born in us, as our feelings are, but this other aspect of faith comes to us from outside, totally from outside of us. This fundamental aspect of faith is the promises of God to us in Jesus Christ. When our feelings toward God are weakened because life is hard, sometimes brutal, God’s promises to us in Jesus Christ cannot be weakened because they’re from God who never changes and is true to His word.
You can understand the Bible as a book of God’s promises, played out in the lives of ancient people and offering you instruction, correction, and encouragement. Indeed, that’s the fundamental aspect of faith, hanging onto the promises, especially when everything is pummeling our good feelings about God. “If we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). More than any other book, the Bible is for keeping…and using.
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