Matter of Faith

How many times have words left our lips to reveal oh-less-than-gracious moments!  Like the man who notices the u-Haul truck full of boxes in his neighbor’s drive, and asks “Hey, you moving?”  (Neighbor answers, “Nope. We just pack up once or twice a week just to see how many boxes it takes.)  Abraham Lincoln put it like this: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

How often does our own foolishness hinder our faith?  Oswald Chambers writes, “Every time you venture out in the life of faith, you will find something in your common-sense circumstances that flatly contradicts your faith. Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense; they stand in the relation of the natural and the spiritual.”  How easy and practical our faith is when life is easy – those sweet moments when there’s money-in-the-bank, all mechanical things are functioning, and relationships are peaceful. Such are the times we stand confidently on the mountain top and [with Paul] exclaim “My God will supply all my needs …” (Phil 4:19)  Then comes the valley-days when the mountain top seems long ago, far away, and unrealistic compared to present circumstances. That’s when common sense wants to take over faith. We must ask ourselves if we have confidence required to bear the pending test of faith?   Matthew writes, “But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.” (13:21).  Our foolishness nor our faith won’t be revealed so much in what we say but rather in what we do.  Let what we do affirm with Jeremiah, ““Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.” (17:7).  Make your life’s way a matter of faith!