In ancient times, gold was the worlds most precious metal. Which is why King Solomons craftsmen made 600 shields of beaten gold for the House of the Forest -- a huge room that featured giant pillars of wood made from the cedars of Lebanon. The cost? About $3,600.000. (2 Chronicles 9:15, 16) Imagine entering that room and seeing light flash on those 600 golden shields! After Solomon died he was succeeded by his son Rehoboam, who ruled well for a while but then took multiple wives and turned to other gods. The result was that God allowed Shishak, the king of Egypt, to invade his realm. Shishak plundered the kings palaces, and also carried off the 600 beaten gold shields. So Rehoboam replaced them with 600 brass shields. What poor substitutes for the original, you might be thinking -- and if so, youre right. Yet true faith, which is a gift from God -- and to which gold is likened in the Bible -- has a substitute, and its natural confidence, often in the form of Positive Thinking. Nothing wrong with having a PMA, but it should never be a substitute for GGF -- God-given faith. The amazing thing is that it took just one generation for gold to be replaced by brass! How long does it take for the faith that God gives to become substituted by natural faith? Not long. The real faith generation says, God can! The pseudo faith generation asks, Can God? (Psalm 78) Jesus said, When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? Real faith. I am determined that in my family and among my friends, it will not be Will he? but He will! In promoting the American Express credit card they warn, Accept no substitutes. If they can think that way about their card, surely we can think that way about Real Faith.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 23:22:20 +0000
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