UNTIL OUR DYING BREATH

"The peace of Christ must control your hearts—a peace into which you were called in one body. And be thankful people." (Colossians 3:15)

Our history is filled with Christians who kept the faith even as they were tortured in prison because of that faith. Not just an ordinary faith but a faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. But today, scores of people are falling away from that faith under the light pressure of a few questions from people without Jesus. How can it be that the darkness is able to swallow the light? The answer is as simple as it is sad: There is a difference between knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus.

Someone asked me the question, "What if an atheist convinced you that God does not exist?" Can someone convince me that my dad does not exist? Of course not. Atheists look at our faith and do not understand because they can only see words and morality. They see only with their eyes. They believe an academic argument can dismiss what they do not understand. But Jesus is not a matter of academics or logic. It is about relationship, just as my dad and I are about relationship. How can I be convinced not to believe in someone I experience every day?

The reason so many fall away by fine sounding arguments is because that is how they came to know Jesus. But we can't argue someone into belief. Belief happens when a person responds to God calling to them. The Word says, salvation belongs to the Lord. When we have experienced the peace of Christ we know the reality of Christ. That peace must be permitted to control our hearts in the face of everything this world has to throw at us. But we cannot hear God's voice if we refuse to believe.

Perhaps this is the great falling away that we know comes in the end times, but those who know Jesus by the Spirit and not by intellect alone cannot be persuaded otherwise. It is impossible to drink from that cup and change our mind, not if we are being refreshed in the spirit every day. By being refreshed, his peace is renewed in us and, although many things would try to prevail over us, we make the decision to give his peace control. We choose to trust in Jesus and his promises and we shall trust until our dying breath.

I will not turn my back on the lover of my soul, who I experience every day.

http://pastorpaulvbsblog.blogspot.com/2013/11/until-our-dying-breath.html