I think everyone to a degree has faith in something. Now,
I’m not saying saving faith, I’m just talking faith in something. And then, I also say that the same people who
have saving faith often forget that they have it. People who know Jesus,
however, have something that cannot be taken, shaken, or forsaken. All too
often I find myself doubting. You know, like you really feel like you know
something, but you forget, and you say “Man, I just don’t know. Maybe I was
lied to. Maybe Jesus can’t offer me hope in this area of my life.” And soon,
you find yourself in a hole where nothing seems hopeful. You see your circumstances as bigger than
giants, and your enemies seem to have an uncanny ability to breathe down your
neck. This is an awful place to be, and I feel like there are so many veins of
how I have experienced this as of late.
For one, our faith can be damaged by many things. Maybe it’s un-forgiveness. As in, “That person hurt me in this way, and
that way…and now I’m not sure of what I knew before because of their actions”. I think what kills me every time I think
about Jesus and His mission on earth, He never once was thinking to Himself, “Man.
Father, these people are nuts, You know? I’m not feeling this. I have every
right to judge and not extend any mercy.” Instead, He said things like, “Father,
forgive them for they know not what they do”, and He described Himself as the “bread
of life”, the “living water”. He
extended His love to the same people who crucified Him. I haven’t read it, but, there’s a book that’s
been around for 50 years at least called “The Last Temptation of Christ”. In it, the author highlights an alternate
reality where a humanistic, flesh driven Jesus reconsiders what He came down to
our mess for, and He even imagines life outside of being crucified. I am in no
way condoning this book. But, we as co-heirs with Christ can be astounded that
He didn’t even flirt with these ideas.
He never had those thoughts. He
always has and always offers us steadfast love, forgiveness, and kindness. So
when we have the mind of Christ, we should apply that mind to our own
lives. Through the Holy Spirit, we can
forgive those who “know not what they do” to us. All because of Jesus, we can
do something that’s foreign to our humanistic thinking. And, like Jesus we can
embrace the peace and comfort of the Father through doing so.
Maybe it’s a lack of belief that your past has been
changed. I cannot tell you how many times people I know say “I’m not ready for
that__, because when I was at an earlier place in my life, ___happened and so,
I’m just not able to get past that.” I hate when I find myself living in the
past. I’ve learned that the enemy loves our past. Yes, the enemy makes his
dwelling in your past, and who you were.
Did you ever notice that? The Lord gives us a bright future and new
plans to prosper us, and the enemy is always bashing what happened to you, and
who you used to be over your head to make you lose focus of that. It’s really interesting. The Lord loves to show you His goodness to
you today, and remind you that your future is set in Him. Not only that, but He can heal what was once
done to you by the enemy.
I was reading John 6, and I came across some interesting
stuff. Really cool how the Lord just
interrupts your life with the Bible to show you your life and what He says
about it. Anyway, in John 6, Jesus is
feeding 5,000, walking on water, shows how He is the “bread of life”, and then
is deserted by many disciples. I mean.
Did you see that chronology? He shows all of His abilities,
faithfulness, and all of the attributes of someone that people could put their
full faith in. But, I love what Jesus
says in John 6:36, “But I said to you that you have seen Me and
yet do not believe.” Jesus shows
up on the scene and shows how He is the One, He is everything they have hoped
for, and He proves it, and they still disbelieve.
I
always do the same rhythm as these people.
When I read this, I often forget their foolishness is just like
mine. I recall how much doubt and fear
that I also fall into. Even when I experience
Jesus, and see Him, I still question. What
Jesus points out is that faith is never produced by sight in and of itself, it
is instead, produced by belief. If we
are always in the business of seeing results, like “Affirmation. Proof.
Results. Answers.”, we will never have the faith He asks of us. We’re just as blind as the people who lived
with Him, watched Him heal, feed people, walk on water, do miracles and still
question, “Are you really who You say You are? Are You going to come through?”;
we have lost the plot. We haven’t really
understood what faith is all about.
Faith is the means to believing there is Light at the end of the tunnel;
it’s the unsearchable assurance that Jesus is who He says He is. So, let me
encourage you in Jesus’ track record. Has He ever failed you? Has He ever hurt
you? Take heart, He has overcome your doubt, fear and disbelief. All we have to
do is trust in Him.
