"One year I was watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on television with my oldest son. The event's theme was 'Believe!' and the focal point, suspended above the reviewing stand, was what the anchors were calling a Believe-O-Meter. Every time a new float came by, or a band played, or dancers danced in their elf costumes, the needle on the Believe-O-Meter bounced a little higher. Of course, the highlight of the parade was when Santa Claus himself rode in-his sleigh fashioned inexplicably in the shape of a majestic goose-and the Believe-O-Meter went wild! What with the music, the dancing, the confetti, and the screaming kids-and screaming adults for that matter-an alien visitor would surely have concluded that yes, Virginia, these people really do believe this. My six-year-old, God bless him, thought the whole thing was uproariously silly. But that's what the world thinks now about faith. It's a charade, a fun and comforting game that people are free to engage in if they wish, but with no real connection to the actual world. Children believe in Santa Claus and the Easter bunny. Mystics believe in the power of stones and crystals. Crazy people believe in fairies. And Christians, well, they believe in Jesus. Read the Bible, though, and you'll find that faith is nothing like that caricature...It is, biblically speaking, reliance. A rock-solid, truth-grounded, promise-founded trust in the risen Jesus to save you from your sin."
Greg Gilbert, What Is The Gospel?
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