The Supreme Must


Have faith in God.--Mark 11: 22.

“I’m desperate. I can’t go on any longer. I need some faith.”
“I’ve lost my faith. Nothing is important any more, nothing matters.”
“Life has let me down. If only I had a faith to lift me up. Having no faith, I can see no hope in life.”

Here are three expressions of despair. In each case, the reason given for despair was lack of faith--belief in God gone, hope gone.

“I can’t go on any longer.” “Nothing matters.” “No hope in life.”

There is tragedy in those words, unspeakable tragedy!

The most tragic sight in the world, is that of a person “having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2: 12).

If one is to make his way through this world without losing hope, without being driven to despair by the hard and disappointing experiences of life, without becoming cynical because of the wicked and cruel things that go on in the world, without coming to feel that life is meaningless and futile, that nothing is important, that nothing matters, he must believe in God, a God of truth and right, a God whose purposes cannot fail, a God whose love is unfailing, a God who “standeth within the shadows, keeping watch above His own.”

A person without faith in God may go on for a while, and it may seem that everything is going well with him; but, sooner or later, his life will become a tangled web and all sorts of dark shadows will begin to creep into his mind.

“I must learn to believe again, I must!” exclaimed one who had lost faith.

How right! We speak of this and that as a must. Faith in God is a must--the supreme must! Lack of faith in God leads to a lack of faith in morality as a measure of the good life. It leads to a lack of faith in the triumph of truth and right. It leads to a lack of faith in life and its abiding value. It leads to a lack of confidence and courage. Without faith, you are left “having no hope and without God in the world.”