I ended a blog a few times back with "Faith, I wonder what that looks like?" Since the world and everything in it is patterned it only makes sense to me that it speaks of the things of God and his "mysterious" wisdom. So I look for things in the obvious that can help explain the mysterious. I ask "What does that look like" because there are most likely several things patterned the same way.
I look for the things of God in everyday life because that is where he has hidden them, out in the open. We cannot see the forest because of all the trees. God wants to have a relationship with us so he does just that, he meets us wherever we are with all his boldness and subtleties. The whole world speaks of his majesty. The things of this earth help describe the attributes of God. The Parables of Jesus were earthly stories that we can all relate to, that give us insight into the heart and mind of God.
Faith is no different and yet we put it on a high pedestal then scratch and claw at it crying our eyes out to God so that maybe, in just some way, he might pour out on us some little drop that will cause us to become “super someone”. We do not need more faith in order to act out what God has called us to, what we need is, to obey what we already know to do, to put our “self” to death and tell pride to take a hike.
I am not just preaching to the audience and choir here so do not think that I am wagging my finger everyone else. I have three fingers pointed back at me also.
Referring to the scenario when you were standing on the cliff about to go over and God is reaching out his hand to save you. In that moment when you realized that you were a sinner and that there was no hope and you saw God’s hand of mercy and his gift of grace, did you cry out to God to give you more faith? No, you cried out to God to save you and he did. This life changing and powerful event in your life did not require of you any more faith than what you already had.
It is the man, who is full of pride and unbelief that requires God to give him faith. This man is poised to fall and through circumstances, maybe because of a friend or family member, he has been brought to the realization that there is a God whose outstretched hand is reaching for him. He sees the truth and states, in no certain terms, that what he sees he does not believe and that he will not apply “his” faith to this answer. Is it a lack of faith, or is it an overabundance of pride and unwillingness to obey the calling that keeps him from releasing his grip on himself, that keeps him from being saved?
God said that he gives to every man a measure of faith. Did God slight this man? No, the devil and the things of this world have slighted this man.
The difference between you and this man was obedience. You acted on your faith and he refused. Obedience and faith are blood brothers. Faith is a gift from God to you and obedience is a gift from you to God. Everything about God, from his unfathomable aspects to his relational characteristics, is there because of his obedience. It is obedience that we need, not more faith.
It is this misunderstanding of faith that causes us not to be able to see our neglect toward obedience. When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane crying out to God for another way to accomplish His will, he did not ask for more faith to accomplish what God had asked him to do, no he simply resigned himself to the task by obeying.
Luke 22:42
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
So it is in these words by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “How can we have faith if we do not obey and how can we obey if we do not have faith?”, that we see that these two blood brothers are inseparable.
I hope you enjoy these next few weeks on the subject of Faith. I know it was very interesting for me to discover and so I hope it is for you also.
No comments:
Post a Comment