Posts Tagged ‘faith’
A blacksmith speaks on suffering
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.org
A CHRISTIAN BLACKSMITH, whose life was full of suffering and pain, was once challenged by an unbeliever to account for all the suffering God had allowed in his life. His response to the challenge went something like this:
As a blacksmith, I often take a piece of iron and put it into the fire to bring it to a white heat. Then I put it on the anvil and strike it a few times to see if it can be tempered. If I think it can, I plunge it into cold water, suddenly changing the temperature.
I repeat this heating and quenching process several times. Then I put the iron on the anvil and hammer it and bend it. After it cools, I rasp it and file it, turning it into some useful article which will serve for many years. If, however, when I first strike it on the anvil, I see that it cannot be tempered, I throw it onto the scrap pile and sell it for a few pennies.
I believe my God and Father has been testing me to see if I can be tempered. He has repeatedly put me into the fire and into the water. I have tried to bear it patiently and quietly, and my daily prayer has been: ‘Lord, put me into the fire if You will. And put me into the water if You think I need it. Do anything You please, Lord, . . . only . . . don’t throw me onto the scrap pile.’”
The Lord’s testing of us is not only a sign of His preparing us for usefulness, but it is also a sign of His love for us. The Scriptures say, it is “for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness” and “afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:10-11).
It is a solemn thing to find oneself on the scrap pile, and this, because we have refused being tempered. May our prayer be, . . . “Let it not be so, . . . Lord . . . . in my life.”
Excerpts taken from the tract A Blacksmith Speaks
This article was published by The Faith Mission, Edinburgh, in FIRST! magazine january/February 2008
Posted in 
Tags: 
The blind leap of faith
To conclude our series on Questions Sceptics Ask by RUSTY WRIGHT, Rusty suggests how we might respond when someone says:
I could never take the blind leap of faith that believing in Christ requires.
We exercise faith every day. Few of us comprehend everything about electricity or aerodynamics, but we have evidence of their validity. Whenever we use electric lights or airplanes, we exercise faith – not blind faith, but faith based on evidence. Christians act similarly. The evidence for Jesus is compelling, so one can trust Him on that basis.
As you respond to inquirers, realize that many barriers to faith are emotional rather than merely intellectual.
As a teenager, I nearly was expelled from secondary school for some problems I helped create. In my pain and anger I wondered, “Why would God allow this to happen?” I was mad at God! In retrospect, I realize I was blaming Him for my own bad choices. My personal anguish at the time kept me from seeing that.
Your questioners may be turned off because Christians haven’t acted like Jesus. Maybe they’re angry at God because of personal illness, a broken relationship, a loved one’s death, or personal pain. Ask God for patience and love as you seek to blend grace with truth. He may use you to help skeptics become seekers and seekers become His children. I hope He does.
Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively. www.RustyWright.com
Adapted from Rusty Wright, “7 Questions Skeptics Ask,” Moody Magazine, March/April 2002. Copyright© 2002 Rusty Wright. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
OTHER POSTS IN THIS SERIES
Sceptics or Skeptics?– How do you deal with questions and objections to faith that your friends may pose?
Why is there evil and suffering?
What about all the contradictions in the Bible?
What will happen to those who never hear of Christ?
Sceptics or Skeptics?
Sceptics is a word which is spelt differently on opposite sides of the Atlantic. But skeptic or sceptic – the meaning is the same, and not to be confused with septic which is to do with germs!
This week we are going to do something a little different from our usual practice of blogging two or three times a week. We will have daily posts, each covering a short extract from Rusty Wright’s apologetic article Questions Skeptics Ask. This was published in Life Indeed in 2005/2005. Some posts will be longer than others, and I am sure that you will find Rusty’s perspective very helpful as you speak to people who are sceptical about the Christian faith. Throughout, you will notice the British spelling, since most of our readers are on the European side of the Atlantic. I hope Rusty and our US readers will forgive us!
First, we begin with a general introduction to
QUESTIONS SCEPTICS ASK by Rusty Wright
Hurting people everywhere need God. Many are open to considering Him, but they often have questions they want answered before they are willing to accept Christ. As we answer them, seeking to blend grace with truth, an increasing number of sceptics may give an ear and become seekers or believers. That’s what happened to me.
After trying as a teenager to live in a way that would be pleasing to people and to God, I was nearly expelled from high school for some problems I helped create. For some time after that, I put on hold any investigation into Christianity. In pain and anger I wondered, “Why would God allow this to happen to me after I had been trying my best to please Him?”
Later, students in the Campus Crusade for Christ group at Duke University during my freshman year helped me see God’s forgiveness as a free gift. They lovingly accepted me in spite of my sometimes-relentless questions.
After trusting Christ as Saviour, I still had questions. The local Campus Crusade director, took interest in me. At first his answers irritated me, but as I thought them through, they began to make sense. I followed him around campus for two years, watching him interact with non-Christians. Today, as I am privileged to encounter inquisitive people, much of my approach derives from my mentor. [To be continued]
Tomorrow we’ll begin with Rusty’s answer to the first question sceptics often ask.
Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents. He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively. www.RustyWright.com
