Wasted Faith

Thank you Bro Tyris Horton for providing me this book in the mail. I decided to do a little review on this book. The name of the book is called "Wasted Faith" by Jim Elliff. This book is very challenging to the Christian faith some of us profess to have. If you want a book that will point you to God's Holy Word, so that you examine yourself to see if your faith is truly saving faith of Jesus Christ, Wasted Faith is a great book to explore. Other materials by Jim Elliff can be found at his website: www.CCWonline.org. Also drop a view to Bro. Tyris Horton blog @ http://www.thinkchristians.blogspot.com/ who can give yo more information on Jim Elliff's resources.

Wasted faith consist of nine chapters revealing what are the counterfeits to true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. These chapters will captivate your mind, and challenging you to think, "Am I really saved by the Lord Jesus Christ?" The opening chapter, Jim does an excellent job of presenting the professing Christian with a challenge: Is your faith authentic or counterfeit?

Well is it? The scripture says:

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
(2 Corinthians 13:5)

Wasted Faith implies that our obedience to God is to examine the issue of our salvation. How do we do this? How do we get past the garbage and know our faith is real? Jim suggest:

To reveal the true nature of your faith, strip away your reliance upon family traditions, church attendance, or baptism. Look deeper than the pious words you say in the right company. Look beyond the well-intentioned assurances given by a trusted parent, pastor, or evangelist. Set these insufficient comforts aside and look at what is left. Then determine if you have what the Bible describes as genuine Christian faith (p9 Wasted Faith )

Can we do this? Can we go beyond the norm of relying on what the pimping preacher may tell us? Can we go beyond what mommy or daddy told us? Yes, we can. We can take the Holy Word of God and look to see if we individually line up.

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
(Romans 7:23-25)

Chapter Seven "Faith Without Fruit" is one of my favorite chapters in the book, which brought me to search in the scriptures to see what was written by Jim, was truth. This was a well written chapter. It defined the counterfeit to faith with fruit showing. Mr. Elliff starts off with a story of a friend he had that was saved from the streets. He describes his friends saving experience to be one filled with emotion and drama. Watching his steps, Jim wonder how authentic his friends Christianity was. Don't we all know of someone like that, or even ourselves at times? He explained how sin after sin appeared in the man's life but later on faded out. This really grasped me because I believe that it doesn't take the Lord Jesus Christ years and years to clean up everything in your life (e.g doing drugs and fornicating with women). Yet Jim gives the reassuring sign of the genuine love to read the bible that his friend had. Are we like this? Do we love to do the will of our Father. Then came the scripture:

A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
(Matthew 7:18-23)

What sobering verses. To know that our loving Jesus Christ desires us to do the will of the Father. We can know if we are bearing fruit and others to. This chapter really gave encouragement to know we are not crazy thinking of ourselves as bearing the fruit of the Spirit, and seeing it in others as well.

Overall, I recommend this book to those of you doing bible studies with small groups. Get a bible and guide professing Christians in the truth of God's Word. Wasted Faith definitely points the professing Christian in that direction. Wasted Faith leaves you with some proposals of the authority of God's Word in pointing out the deception:

1. Humble yourself before God
2. Admit your inability to properly understand your own heart

3. Be hard own yourself in applying the evidences of true and false conversions to your own life

4. Carefully examine the relational aspect of conversion-knowing Christ.

5. Look for the fruit of love in your life-toward God and man

6. Evaluate your response towards God during testing

7. Trust the living Christ unconditionally

8. Plead for mercy

(pp 52-56 Wasted Faith)

God bless you my friends. The grace of Christ be with you.

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
(2 Peter 1:10-21)