I’m married to a preacher, who sometimes meddles in my life when he preaches. It’s not personal, mind you – he meddles with everyone. He recently started preaching a series on Faith based on Hebrews 11 – a passage I loved until he started this meddlesome sermon series – which is vexing. [Obviously I’m suffering from Snow Day number 3 – using words like meddlesome and vexing]. And I still adore this passage, I can’t help myself – all my heroes are here.
One of the illustrations he used to kick off the subject of faith was the lyrics to a Wham song…..sing along with me….”You gotta have faith, faith, faith…..” He recollects even as a teenager hearing the song and asking the question, “faith in what?” His point being that faith always has to have an object. I remember listening to this cassette in my bedroom hoping my mom wouldn’t realize I’d borrowed it from Krissy Pigee who lived next door – true. I’m pretty sure that my only reaction to Wham was something along the lines of “Wow, that guy has cool hair” or “I wonder how he keeps his facial hair exactly that length all the time – does he ever shave it smooth?” But I digress – faith can be hard. As I’ve grown up I have questioned faith. As a young newlywed trying to understand the waiting for and then loss of a baby, a friend suggested to me gently that my faith wasn’t strong enough since God gives us what we believe Him for (there are a hundred things wrong with that statement beyond ending with a preposition - perhaps sometime I’ll blog on that subject). This little thought along with the questions that naturally come with trials sent me into a bit of a tailspin for awhile. God grew me right up and out of such erroneous thinking. I learned to discover and trust God’s character and His unwavering determination for my growth and His glory. He is not wavered by my temper tantrums or confusion any more than He’s wavered by the plans of our Enemy to sabotage His work in my life.
My struggles with faith now tend to be more along the lines of fear of following Him into the unknown. It’s not that I don’t trust Him, it’s that I still cannot fathom that He would use me. And yes, I do recognize the absurdity in that sentence – both parts. But honestly, that’s where I often find myself. Asking Him again, “I know You are trustworthy in the lives of my kids and in my ministry, but why did you choose me to raise them, teach them, counsel them, lead them again? Just wondering, need a little reminder….maybe you don’t see how inadequate I am?” It’s just a bunch of insecurity which I detest and cling to. Stupid, I know.
So I’ve been digging my feet in on some things God’s calling me to do and then BAM, a sermon SERIES on Faith. Some of the points of the first sermon? Glad you asked - because as vexing as they have been, these sermons are unbelievably amazing. You can find some more here courtesy of Todd Fisher.
· Faith is based on what God has said, not what I know.
· Faith always has to have an object.
· Faith means the Future trumps the Present.
· Faith means the Spiritual trumps the Physical.
· Faith means the Calling trumps the Comfort Zone.
And yes it’s only gotten better from there……..truth is an odd uncomfortable security sometimes.
The first and the last points just made me so excited and cranky, hopeful and terrified. I must get out of defining myself and my calling by what I know – my weaknesses and the expectations of others. Why would I find comfort in my weakness and the expectations of others when my Creator and the God of all things calls me His (Isaiah 43:1), Equipped (Hebrews 13:20-21), and Pleasing (2 Corinthians 2:15)? Talk about absurd – look these verses up, they belong to us.
“Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God's Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete.”
2 Corinthians 1:20-22 MSG
And Amen to that.
Jamy, I am so proud of you and this huge step of faith you are taking. I just know God is going to be able to do mighty things through you! Love you bunches!
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