While suffering might be the very thing we need to help us grow we must understand that even in the middle of it that it is the thing that when we are faithful in the midst of it, is producing a crown of glory. God promises that my suffering is somehow producing life that I don’t understand.
It seems everyone has an answer as to why people are leaving and there are a myriad of people who know how to fix these issues. I’m not sure that the issues are as simple as we’d like to believe. We have to understand that church attendance is on the decline in part because the social expectation of church attendance has eroded, people are more busy and active now than ever before and their priorities are elsewhere.
We are addicted to sight. We are addicted to needing to know. We are addicted to control. Some of you plan way in advance. Some of you do tons of research before you even think about buying something. You might get nervous before you travel. You worry that something might not go according to plan. I don’t think a single one of you wants to live a boring life.
But make no mistake, when I talk about faith, I mean how you live your life–the whole thing–however you live it. We all have faith. The question more often than not is what are you putting that faith in? You trust your doctor. You trust your bank. You trust that chair you’re sitting in. You trust yourself. You trust that you won’t forget that password. You trust your parents. You trust that the chef of the dinner you’re eating won’t spit in your food. We all are living by faith in what we don’t know, can’t see and don’t even consciously think about.
He watches their face as they hear about who Jesus is and what He has done for them. Then just like on Christmas morning and you realize just all the nifty things your gift can actually do–God waits to see the smile on that person’s face when they realize their sins can be forgiven through Jesus. You know, the Bible is chalked full of stories about people who heard about God’s gift to them for the first time.
That doesn’t sound safe. That doesn’t sound like Abraham was in his comfort zone. That doesn’t sound like Abraham was trusting in himself and leaning on his own understanding. Further, when God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son–the one thing that was his dream and his great love and joy Abraham was willing to do this demonstrating that he loved God more than anything or anyone else (see Luke 14:26). Would you be willing to follow God to a foreign land or be willing to give up as a sacrifice to God the one thing/person you loved the most?
Think about the phrases we use. “Ask Jesus into your heart” “Become born again.” “Trust Jesus with your soul.” “Just believe.” These things become “Christianise” to the world. Here’s the thing. There’s not a specific terminology. There’s not a special wording you need when you pray. There’s no secret or magic based on what you say when you pray or exact wording to use when you ask for grace. God is more interested with what is in your heart then how many “hail Mary”s you can say and He cares more about what you do than whether or not you can recite the Lord’s Prayer.
Often we find in our lives that God is nowhere to be found. We cannot see Him, we cannot smell Him, we cannot taste Him or feel Him. Yet He is there. We know this because if we’re still for long enough we can feel the effects of Him working and moving in our lives. Jacob wrote, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
I was driving home the other night and it was pretty late. I noticed a U-Haul truck sitting outside the apartment building next to mine. I noticed a man who sat down on the back of the U-Haul truck looking discouraged and exhausted. I could really relate to him having just moved out east to New England from Chicago just six months ago. The whole process of moving is exhausting enough, but almost worse is the discouragement found from moving to a new part of the country where you know almost no one.
