Thoughtful pastors are reminding their church members every week that God is faithful and unchanging, even while most of us feel sea sick from the financial tempest tossing world economies on the rocks.

   Jesus followers, we’re reminded, ought not be captive to the fear and uncertainty that prevails among those whose identity, life and security are tied up in their jobs and stock portfolios. 

   Sunday at Green Street Baptist Church in High Point, one of North Carolina Baptists’ largest churches, pastor Darryl Craft reminded his congregation that the true security of faith comes not in just waving your hand and claiming the title of “Christian.” Instead, the Christian who can surely live peacefully through tumultuous times is the one who knows Jesus intimately because of time spent with Him.

   You may hear preachers claim, as I have claimed myself during rounds at this fall’s associational meetings, that fear and anxiety is only for those without faith. And you wonder why you are so afraid and anxious, because after all, you are a person of faith. Yet, peace eludes you.

   “Jesus is the greatest satisfaction you can ever have,” Craft said.

   The issue as he stated it is that persons who simply claim to be Christian but who do not cultivate the disciplines of a Christian life will not find the satisfaction for which they yearn. They have not disciplined their lives to devote the time necessary to read and to study the Bible, to meditate about what they learned there and then to pray with its author.

   Prayer is simply talking to God, sharing your heart with Him, Craft said. No one unwilling to talk and share with another will find that he knows that other person very well. 

   It is no shallow claim we lay to say a Christian can be at peace in tumultuous times. Think of the storm in Matt. 8:23-27 when Jesus slept during a violent storm on lake. His followers certainly knew Him; they were with him in the boat. But they did not yet share the intimate relationship with the Father that Jesus knew. So they were tossed and afraid. He slept.

    Jesus cultivated that intimate relationship by continually making time to be alone with the Father. Our service is required and important, but it does not cultivate intimacy with the One we serve.

   When it comes to enjoying the peace that passes understanding, even while those around you are dismayed, it is not enough to claim the title of “Christian.” Peace requires time.