God has gifted you with faith in the Captain of your salvation, Jesus Christ (Heb 2:10). His sinless life, His death on the cross, and His glorious resurrection are the only things that can uphold you on that day of dread and gladness. A faith in anything else has no backbone and is empty. Only Christ can save. Only faith in Him has a backbone.

As a kid who grew up in the 90s, certain songs get stuck in my head. One of those (especially after the movie Space Jam) was the song I Believe I Can Fly. (I apologize to all of you who now have that song stuck in your head). This songs acts as a cheesy metaphor for the “I can do anything” attitude of our culture. It’s catchy, it’s well produced, but let me ask an annoyingly literal question for a minute: Does believing you can fly, yes, even believing you can touch the sky, make you able to actually fly? (Bear with me). Of course not! And even if you who sing that song loud enough and with enough sincerity, even then, a loud thud will be heard outside your window when you try to fly off the roof of your house. You know why? Because as much as faith matters, faith without a backbone is useless.

Useless Faith

There are many people who will scoff at my silly example of “believing you can fly,” but how many people are basically doing the same thing, except with a religious flair. This faith without a backbone is all too common. “God knows my heart. He wouldn’t send someone like me to hell,” or “God has promised to give me health, wealth, and prosperity,” or “Jesus isn’t the only way. He is just one way among many.” Where do you get that information? How are you coming to these conclusions? Your reasoning? Your moral standards? I’ll tell you one place you aren’t getting those thoughts: The Bible.

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