Real Faith
I don’t want to embarrass Camden Makinen but he provided a number of us with one of the best illustrations of real faith. Bryan told this story at the Men’s Advance in 2008. The family’s evening routine ended with a Bible story and prayer. The story was Lot and the city of Sodom.
They described how the people in the city were so evil that God was going to destroy the city. They told the children about God’s command to Lot and his family to get out of the city. They, also, knew not to look back at the burning city from God’s instructions.
But, Lot’s wife did look back and she was immediately turned into a pillar of salt. This was harsh punishment, but God should be obeyed. This story should always teach us the lesson of God’s judgment. That’s one reason why Jesus referred to the event in Luke 17:32, “Remember Lot’s wife.”
Camden was fascinated with this story. He was, also, quite bothered by it. He just could not understand why she had to be turned into a pillar of salt. He kept asking why that happened. All his parents could say was that she disobeyed and God punished her.
Prayer time came. Camden did his usually prayer for his family and things in his life. Then, he paused and said, “And, God please don’t turn anyone into salt……..or pepper either!” Now, that is real faith! Not only did he trust that God had done that in the past, he believed that he could pray for God not to do it again and God would hear and honor his prayer. It is important for us to have that kind of faith. So, what is real faith? Let me offer you these 6 principles of real faith.
Real faith can be shared but it cannot be borrowed.
Real faith confronts but is not confrontational.
Real faith is personal but the public will see it.
Real faith has conviction but is open to a challenge.
Real faith asks real questions but is willing to hear real answers.
Real faith does what is right but knows it can be wrong sometimes.
Here is my description of faith. Faith drives me to believe what is coming in the future because I have seen the past. I know that God cannot lie (Titus 1). Since I know this, I have faith in what I have not yet seen. Faith is our spiritual bridge into the future. If you desire to have this confident bridge in your life, develop your own real faith.
— Mike Johnson
