“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. (Romans 10:17)

With the internet one can look up just about anything and find reams of results to scroll through. Recently, I searched for polling data on how many Americans believe in heaven. Of course, there were many results to look at, but the general theme of the results were consistent. Americans, for the most part, believe in heaven. Although it wasn’t clear how heaven was defined, the end results were still meaningful, roughly 2/3 of Americans do believe in heaven. Interestingly enough, less people indicated that they also believe in hell. Similarly, some claimed a belief in angels but less indicated a belief in Satan. Sadly these results seem to match what we see in our culture today. Heaven exists as a place to go after death, but thinking about God in Heaven now – with His complete and unlimited authority – is not something Americans want to think about. Our culture likes the idea of angels, but doesn’t care to think that Satan himself was a fallen angel. Basically, people who haven’t found a home in Christianity want all the good of these beliefs without any of the consequences. So how did we get here as a country? Well, I don’t think I have anything credible to offer, but what I can say is that today’s verse describes how we can avoid the confusion described by these polling results. Paul states it quite plainly. If you want to have a mature faith in Jesus than you must come to know Him, and knowing Him can only come from His word – the Holy Scripture. Clarity does not come from hearsay and un-founded talk. True faith comes from the truth, the words of Christ Jesus Himself. So if you want to combat the confusion and misguided ideas of the masses, step out of the world and put yourself into the Word.