Faith Killer #1 - Not what you might think.

I receive not honour from men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? - John 5:41-44 (KJV)

One might naturally think the number one faith killer would be personal sin, or selfishness, anger, or some other shortcoming but not so. Some of the worst sinners have come to a saving faith in Christ.

Jesus, in our passage, tells his hearers what was preventing their belief in him was their own desire for honour from one another.

Coming to Christ requires an almost brutal honesty about who we are. If we could save ourselves we would not need a savior. One has to admit before God that one has not only done sinful acts but is, in fact, a sinner by nature at his or her very core. This is hard for "good" people to do.

Those trying ever so hard to be good so others will like them, trying to do what will make them feel like a good person in their own eyes and the eyes of those they respect find it the hardest to admit their shortcomings and experience the overwhelming joy, wonder, and excitement the Bible says God can bring.

One does not have to have a bad reputation or act stupid to come to Christ - Lady Hamilton, an evangelical believer among the English nobility early in this century, used to say she was saved by an "M," because the bible says that "...not Many noble, are called" (1st Corinthians 1:26).

But those concerned about what others may think of them if they go all out for Christ, will have trouble even believing.

Perhaps that's why some fairly seedy characters find it easier to throw it all down and go for what they really want - Life! Some might even say they had, all along, been just following other avenues of self gratitude looking for that something which, once found in Christ, satisfied their deepest need.

It has been said by many that once you "taste" what Christ really has to offer, nothing else will do.

Jesus laid aside his own reputation (Phil 2:7) for us, and we should seek honor that comes from God alone.

- Fritz