Page 29 - July 2015 Catalyst

Have faitH
Jed n. snyder, d. min.
Founder/President
Jesus Every Day Ministries, Inc. | www.jedministries.com
Having served as a Hospice Chaplain I am familiar with many issues that re- late to faith. A Chaplain is charged to affirm and assist patients, staff, family and friends in areas of spirituality and specifically in areas of faith. This is a significantly challenging responsibility as life is being addressed and examined. Let’stakeaquick(unfortunately rather cursory) glance at the matter of faith.
It has become fashionable today to speak of faith as an end rather than as a means or path to an end. But faith in faith is rather frivolous. Faith to make any real sense must be faith in something and most often ultimately some- one behind the something. When a doctor recommends medication the patient is ex- pected to place faith in that recommendation. When you put the key in the ignition of your car and turn it, you place your faith in many people, principally the car manufacturer. When a person is married he/she has placed faith in the partner. Thus faith is a path to an end not an end.
Reaction to a proposal for faith in someone usually happens in one of the following ways; • Naivety – being gullible and easily led and unfortunately misled
• Nay-saying—being unconvinced even when presented with convincing facts
• Neglect—putting off making a decision (ac- tually this is temporary nay-saying)
• Navigating—placing one’s live in a new course based upon faith in the person and proposal. This we usually call having trust. It should be clear to each of us that we all have faith. Therealquestionmustthenbe“what
is the focus of our faith?” Again there are only a limited number of options. These are not mutually exclusive but they will always be prioritized.
•Faith in oneself
•Faith in some other person •Faith in God
I am relatively sure you can gather what my persuasion is. I place faith in God as revealed in the Bible and specifically as revealed in Je- sus Christ. I hope that you are satisfied with the focus of your faith. Should you desire some good reading about faith, I recommend the Holy Bible. Should you want specifics in Bible reading or recommendations for other materials, please feel free to ask. You can con- tact me at the website listed below.
Jed N. Snyder
President of Jesus Every Day Ministries, Inc. Pastor, Augusta Street Church,
West Columbia, SC
The website is www.jedministries.com Email: jedsnyder@tmjs.com
July 2015
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