“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8b/KJV).
Our time compared to maybe hundred years ago shows a great loss of interest in things pertaining to the Christian faith. In the early years of the twentieth century many European countries would have considered themselves to be Christian nations.
Meanwhile secularism has been on the move. People know far less about the teachings of the bible than in those days.
When I was young many were arguing against the Christian faith. Today I tend to think that these individuals at least gave sufficient thought to Christian teachings to be against them. I am afraid that these days, many might say they simply do not care about the Christian faith.
As we consider the above quote of Jesus’ words, we may say, in our time the influence of Christendom and Christian churches has decreased dramatically. So if Jesus were to come to us today he probably would be sad about a lack of faith in our Western countries.
But let us have a brief look at what Jesus really was speaking about. Just before saying this he was referring to prayer. Using a parable Jesus said God was gracious enough to hear persistent prayers.
Many people do not pray to God, because they do not have faith in him. Others do pray but merely in a ritualistic manner. It is possible to pray but not to expect God would hear. Prayer can become a lifeless and faithless routine.
Faith kind of begins when we start considering God’s concerns for our lives. Faith involves a trusting response to God’s instructions in the bible.
In Romans 10:17 the apostle Paul states: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” That means, in order to learn faith we must expose ourselves to the teachings of the bible.
