Battling Skepticism

It was stupid...but at the time was entertaining.

It was the annual "Beat Bob Contest" that I drummed up with the teenagers in my Youth Ministry.

Each year I would challenge my teenagers to to 'Out Bob' me. Who could chug the most from a 2 liter un-chilled Coke was a favorite. The sounds that erupted afterwards were even better received! If you could out beat me during the pie eating contest...you were tall timber in our group! The most favorite was the Jalapeno eating contest. That brought out the most contestants. The stage would be lined with students ready to take me on...one jalapeno at a time!

I fudged a bit. Pride was at stake. I had a reputation of being unbeaten up to this point.

To help me a bit, I took a jar of jalapeno and emptied it replacing them with pickled peppers. I knew I could eat a ton of those while the kids swallowed hard the hot ones! Each year, time after time the crowd was amazed as their Youth Pastor could down jar after jar of the volcanic peppers while teen after teen ran for the bathroom. I could not be ousted! Until I was found out and forced to 'play fair', (that is what those kids called it, anyway). In all those years of beating down the competition, there was a skeptical sense that I was not all 'the man' that I had the boasted to be. On that day...I was easily dethroned by a 8th grader!

Skepticism is sometimes justified. Candidates in hunt of office pander to our appetites with pledges that the experienced electorate have heard time and time again. The idealism of hoped for change...the kind that makes a difference slips away into a sea of doubt. Athletes are paid millions to throw and catch, hit and run...and some use hidden substances that increase their physical edge on the field of play...and lose the Hall in Fame in route to their success. The people in the stands wonder who is for 'real'. Coaches grant permission to their camera crews to to tape signals from the opposing sideline to give them advantage. After all, as one put it, "If you ain't cheating...you ain't trying!" Do the Championship rings really matter? To some...you bet!

So, what can you believe in? Who can you really trust? When a pledge is given, a promise spoken, can you know for sure that it was meant for you?

Let's talk about 'faith' this week. In the culture of the dissatisfied, let's talk about trust...real trust.

"For it is My Father's will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have everlasting life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
John 6:40

Jesus knew what we do not want to admit. We look to the wrong places and to the wrong people. We want from others that which only He can deliver...lasting peace, soul rest, perfect contentment, eternal life, to name a few. We get duped. We have fallen to the image without looking carefully at the substance. We have done that so many times...given away our trust, that in our brokenness we pledge that we will NEVER do that again. No more marriage vows. No more verbal agreements. No more believing what you see. No more trusting the next guarantee. Warranty's have their 'small print'. We are stripped from believing faith in the One Who loves us and draws us because we have been burned by too many others in the past with words of assurance and acts that fooled us.

This week...as you read through John 6-10, mark EVERY time you read the word 'believe'. You will see that in Christ, the deepest of needs are dealt with head on, and skepticism melts away even the hardest of hearts. It's time for you to believe. It is time for you to partake of the 'Bread of Life'. It is time for you to jump in the boat that He keeps from drift. It is time for you to be seated with among the crowds for a taste of the divine nourishment that cannot be counterfeited.

Pull out the dollar from your pocket. "In God We Trust". Before you spend it...believe it...not in the ability of the money to bring you what you are looking for, but in the truth for a supply that 100 cents just can't make happen.

It's time to 'believe'. He keeps His promises. I have met too many people along the journey that have confirmed that. They have risen above the ranks of the skeptics...and you can too!