Inspire, Fall 2006

Inspire 21 Not all of this was public; much was shared with me in private. I had to have some answers. For the better part of two years, I delved into Scripture, and I began to see a pattern. I began also to see a prediction. The walk of faith does indeed get more difficult and increasingly so in the last days. The first passage of Scripture that jumped out at me was Hebrews 10:35 — “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.” Here was a group of people who were ready to “walk away” in their Christian faith. They were ready to lose their faith — not saving faith, but their confidence in God. It can happen. Then one of the most important verses I’ve come across is found in Luke 18:1-8. It is the familiar story of the Persistent Widow. But it ends with a rather cryptic verse: “However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” What did that mean? It obviously did not mean “Will He find anyone saved?” But it meant “Would He find the kind of faith that the widow demonstrated in believing God even when He seems to be uncaring and indifferent (the unjust judge)?” There will be times when it seems that God is putting us off. He even says this in verse 7 — “Will He keep putting them off?” I realized that when Christ comes back, faith that is deep, difficult faith will be at a minimum. It challenged my whole being. How shallow was my faith? On two occasions the Word of God says, “The love of many will grow cold” and “Many will abandon the faith.” Perhaps the greatest result of my study was discovering the difference between the Results of Faith and the Rewards of Faith . Did I serve God because I thought things would get better for me here? Or that I would experience blessings on earth? I saw that the results of faith take place on this earth — and they are varied. It was clear in Scripture that some trusted and were blessed, others trusted and died (Hebrews 11:35). But all godly faith will be rewarded — one day in heaven. It has been freeing for me, although I still have a long way to go. It has also evidently been freeing for many others as I have heard from people all over the world sharing what God has shown them through the book. All glory to Jesus! God is there, and He still is active in all our lives; however, the longer we go on with Him, the more He can trust us with His silence. He does not have to constantly “prove” His love and presence. Trusting God in stretching times gives us the opportunity to show our love and faith in Him before a watching universe and demonstrate one of the greatest acts of worship — faith. Bruce and his wife, Bev (Hare) ’72, reside in Woodland Park, Colorado, where Bruce serves with the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE). They have two sons and one daughter: Jeremy ’95, Joshua ’97, and Jessica. For the better part of two years, I delved into Scripture, and I began to see a pattern. I began also to see a prediction. The walk of faith does indeed get more difficult and increasingly so in the last days. For a list of alumni authors, visit www.cedarville.edu/alumni .