Proceed At Your Own Risk

An important part of moving to a new community is the process of finding a new church home, and we have just begun that process.  But the sermon we heard yesterday was a good reminder of what I know to be true about faith: it often involves risk.  In fact, without risk, faith isn’t really being practiced.  If we already could see all of the outcomes and they seemed reasonable, why would we need faith?

Sometimes we think of faith as an end in itself, but that’s not what the Bible teaches.  Faith has been designed by God to make us more Christlike.  Becoming more like Christ is a lifelong process of growth; and growth almost always has some pain attached to it.  That’s why struggling in our faith doesn’t mean we’re sinning or not on track with God – it’s just part of growing.  A perfect example of this is Job’s story in the Old Testament: his struggle with trusting God moved him closer to God and was therefore ordained by God.

We all go through different things and face different trials.  We all have to practice exercising faith, and we all struggle at times to trust God in the midst of our messy lives.  During the era that I was being raised, the songs and sermons I heard on a regular basis fostered the idea that the Christian life is always happy and is easy.  There is still an element of teaching out there that caters to a Christianity of comfort.  But faith is not always easy, and comfortable Christianity is powerless.  Real power and real joy only happen when we allow God to work in us as we continue to work hard and struggle in our faith (Philippians 2:12-13).  How grateful I am that my faith is in a God who can always be trusted because his character is unchanging and he always keeps his promises!

What Really Matters

Watching the election-year political drama that is unfolding every night on the news reminds me of one thing in particular: our nation and western culture is so affluent that we have lost sight of most of what really matters and have resorted to fighting and name-calling over things that have no eternal value.  Our nation’s “leaders” have no physical needs, but they seem to have some spiritual ones.

This scenario, as well as some recent events in my own personal life, have prompted me to think today about God’s provision for us and how wonderfully he takes care of us.  Of course, most of us think that we are working hard to take care of ourselves; but that is only part of the truth.  Literally every breath we take is dependent on the life that God has breathed into us, so our trust for provision should be in him alone rather than in ourselves.

I saw a reader-board on a church this week that bothered me.  It simply said, “He will give you the desires of your heart.”  This out-of-context quote from Psalm 37:4 changed the entire meaning of the verse.  Here is what the verse actually says: “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”  You see, the prerequisite for receiving the desires of our heart from God is to “delight” in him, which means to experience great pleasure and joy in his presence.  We only experience great pleasure and joy in the presence of people that we know well, so this is a call to meaningful relationship with God. 

God provides lavishly for those who commit themselves to being in relationship with him (1 Timothy 6:17), but we need to remember that God’s perspective is different than ours.  Because we live in a physical world with tangible needs, we tend to forget that our physical and spiritual selves are intertwined.  While we elevate our physical needs as the most important thing, God is equally interested in our spiritual needs.  From his perspective, the two cannot be separated.  In fact, our deepest needs are actually spiritual rather than physical.  That’s why gaining the physical desires of our heart is tied to our spiritual relationship with God in Psalm 37:4.  God may sometimes allow us to go without some physical thing in order to grow more dependent on him spiritually.  He wants us to learn that he is enough and that we need him more than we need anything else.

How grateful I am that God has revealed his truth to us and allows me to seek out relationship with him every day!  And how grateful I am for the MANY instances in my own life and the lives of my loved ones that God has provided for physical needs – in both miraculous and commonplace ways!  But I am even more grateful that God provides for my spiritual needs and uses my relationship with him to teach me spiritual principles for eternity.  Oh, that more of our so-called “leaders” would truly understand what really matters.

God's Overwhelming Goodness

There have been many times in my life that I have been overwhelmed by God’s goodness to me; and the last couple weeks have provided new opportunities to be grateful.  You see, God has been showing us little glimpses of heaven as we have been in the process of moving to a new community.

First of all, on our last Sunday at our church, our church family gathered around us to say their goodbyes and send us off on our new adventure.  As my husband and I stood at the front of the church receiving accolades from the pastor for our service and impact on the body during our time there, we were surrounded by our friends and prayed over amidst tears and hugs.  I was overwhelmed to find myself so loved and appreciated for who I am!  Then we went out with several special friends for the afternoon and were kindly treated to lunch.

A little over a week ago we hit the ground running on moving day.  A group of nine precious friends, as well as some relatives, dedicated their entire day to helping us pack and unpack the moving truck and several vehicles.  All of our friends voluntarily committed to handling both ends of the move and traveling the 50-minute drive each way to and from our old community and our new house.  There was hard work, laughter, some tears (on my part!), hugs, and joyful attitudes.  Afterwards, we shared a meal together – and it seemed that no one wanted to go home.  God was clearly present and active among us, a small portion of his body here on earth.  I was reminded of Psalm 133:1 – “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!”   

I’ve said before that I don’t like change.  There are parts of me that still want to be living in the old house, attending the old church, and spending more time with my wonderful friends.  But this new place is beginning to feel like home; and the beautiful sunset view of one of my favorite mountains as I drove to the store yesterday reminded me that God is good . . . all the time . . . no matter where we are or what we’re doing.  And he’s always wanting to overwhelm his children with good gifts (Matthew 7:7-11 and James 1:17).  

Lately for me those gifts have been loving friends, good food, a wonderful pastor who teaches truth, and a new place to call home.  As this adventure continues, I’m looking forward to seeing what he has in store for me next!  Trusting God’s faithfulness and goodness . . .