Musings in Search of a Muse

Any relationship needs a "glue" to hold it together. My Bible study guide (no, I'm not tired of writing about it .... skip to the next entry if you have to) asserts that intellectual, emotional, and willful commitments bind us to Christ.
 
I don't know about you, but my belief in Christ came as a matter of pure faith -- a decision to believe without question. My readings to that point (such as The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren by Gerald Brittle) led me to intellectually believe in Hell and Satan, but not Christ. It wasn't until I made an emotional commitment shortly after the death of a friend that I thought myself to be a believer. Now I make a willful decision each time sin confronts me.
 
Certainly intellectual proof of divinity is constantly sought as people pray for signs, portents, and obvious miracles. This can be seen in the multitudes that flock to any reflection, optical distortion, or other phenomenon that is labeled as the image of Christ or other biblical figures. What we seldom see is the spontaneous emotional component that sustains this proof to repeated acts of willful commitment. Prayer itself is a form a belief, but it can easily be misguided or used selfishly. The it enters into hokery.
 
So if it's this difficult, why did Jesus die for us? He died for our sins past, present, and future, as long as we put our faith in him. God intended this to be a continual reminder. I Peter 3:18 tells us this -- For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.  After all, how effective would God's message have been if Jesus simply caught a donkey back out of town and waived goodbye? ("Bye, everyone! I should be back in about three days!") Death is something that catches our attention because everyone fears it to some degree, no matter how strong their faith.
 
How strong is your faith? Peace & Prayers