Bench Warmer…

There are starters, backups (second string) and then bench warmers.  A “bench warmer” is someone that is on a team yet very rarely play, they only play in extreme situations.  When it comes time to play this player approaches the game with great hesitation.  Why?  They have not practiced, or had very little practice, and so they find themselves doubting their ability.  In James 2:14 we read, “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?”, and then in verse 17 “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”  Now we know that our salvation is not based upon works (see Ephesians 2:8-9), yet at the same time our faith is never intended to be by words only.  This may seem like a crazy example to give, but it is a powerful one, if someone is a gambler and they really believe a team will win they will put money down on that team to win, even if the oddsmaker say something different.  Now we can easily say that isn’t a safe thing to do because we ultimately understand that anything can happen in a game and no matter how confident you are in that team it is still a risk.  Faith is to trust more in what you cannot see (what He has spoken) over what you can see.  One of the hardest things for Christians to do is display our words of faith.  Take for example when Jesus said in John 16:33 “...In the world you will have tribulation; but be good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  He says these words to His disciples and yet at the same time He says these words to us today.  In this world we will have difficulties, yet despite this we are commanded to “be of good cheer” or another way to say this is, “have courage and confidence.”  What does this look like?  How do we display a faith that is of “good cheer”.  When David was faced with his giant he ran towards it with only stones, but his faith wasn’t in the stones he carried but in the God he served.  He didn’t just say that God would deliver them, he demonstrated it, with confidence that took him towards his trouble.  Faith, true faith, must have some sort of corresponding action.  What does any of this have to do with being “bench warmers”?  Simply put, our faith isn’t supposed to be like a “bench warmer”, rather our faith is meant to be active, and in the “game”, even when it’s difficult.  A faith that is never exercised is a weak faith, and we aren’t asked to have strong faith, but just to have faith.  And the truth is the more we trust Him, the more we have actions that line up with what we say we believe, the “easier” it will be to not have a “bench warmer” type of faith but an active type of faith.  Much love, Pastor Michael