Jewish-American social critic Dennis Prager says he is often asked what was the greatest revelation he derived from his research into ancient religions. His reply: The Bible has to have been the product of divine revelation. Its teachings are too counterintuitive, too opposed to human nature and to the surrounding cultures, to have sprung from the human imagination. The result of that divine inspiration was a collection of moral principles and precepts that enabled the creation of Western civilization.

Today, there are many movements within Western civilization that seek to undo five thousand years of moral and cultural progress. Even in the church, there are teachers and leaders who are trying to divorce the church from God’s Word.

Today, the church desperately needs parents, Bible teachers, Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, and mentors who will tell the next generation that God deeply cares how we live our lives. Above all, we need to make sure that whenever we share the Gospel, especially with young people, we make it clear that accepting Jesus is more than simply giving intellectual assent to a creed. Salvation consists not only of receiving Jesus as Savior, but receiving Jesus as Lord. All too often the evangelical church has preached a false gospel, a heretical gospel of easy believism, a gospel that says if you just pray a certain prayer at some point in your life, then you are free to live your life any way you please.

While it is true that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works, it is equally true that we demonstrate the genuineness of our faith by living a life that is pleasing to God. If we say we have faith but our way of life does not demonstrate our faith, then is our faith genuine?

Prayer: Father, help me to be a godly example of genuine faith to the young people You have placed in my life. I pray that the church would repent of preaching a false gospel that cheats people out of the beauty and richness of a righteous life rooted in a relationship with You. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want” (Galatians 5:16-17).

*Excerpt adapted from Fearless Living in Troubled Times by Michael Youssef © 2017. Published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR. Used by permission.

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