A Challenge? Very well, I accept!

"When the Son of Man comes to earth, do you think he will find faith in men's hearts?"

This line always evokes conflicting emotions within my heart.  I am filled with the realization that faith seems to be dwindling among people--I see it in the media, my family, my students, and my own heart.  Faith seems to be that elusive thing that people desire yet which we also run from.  However, while my heart is grieving about the loss of faith, it also attunes itself to the implicit challenge that is embodied in that statement.  I am competitive.  You probably wouldn't discover that from people who only casually know me, but from those who are closer to me, they would probably roll their eyes at my ridiculous, insignificant challenges and competitions that I try to evoke.  I just like to win.  The challenge found in this statement seems obvious--I want to prove them wrong.  Faith will be found within the hearts of mankind.  The Second Coming can be millenia away, but there will be a faithful remnant.  This remnant will be purified by persecution and grounded in sacrificial love, but it will remain.  The gauntlet is thrown down and I accept the challenge.  My life should be spent in the quest to ensure that faith will remain within the hearts of men.

Lord, we will believe.  Come what may, we will still believe.  We need your strength and your grace, but we will remain faithful.  We will fall, but we will still believe.  When I think of the alternative, that Christ will come again and there will be no faith on earth, I stop the image and declare internally with a firmer resolve, that it will never happen.

Maranatha...Come, Lord Jesus!