A few things that caught my eye this week:
100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design
27 of History’s Strangest Inventions
American households purchased boomboxes faster than any other gadget in past 50 years
Is fear of failure holding you back?
Category Archives: faith
Trials, Waiting, and Faith
We wish the good times would last forever and trials to never come, but if they do, they would pass quickly. We know real life doesn’t work that way, yet it is one of the hardest things to deal with. These words from another era still ring true.
It is well when our troubles drive us to our knees. But does it not reprove our unbelief? How unwilling are we to rest on the declaration of Jehovah! How desirous to know in what way he will save us! How impatient when relief is delayed! But we must wait for the fulfilling of his word. Lord, help our unbelief. – Matthew Henry
Related articles
- A Matthew Henry Prayer (keatho.com)
God Even Cares About a Lost Axe
Image by coconinoco via Flickr
There are several stories throughout the Bible that make one wonder, why in the world did “they” include that? The stories seem off the wall and nothing to do with redemption. One such story came up in my Bible reading this morning. In 2 Kings 6:5 amidst the recorded adventures of the prophet Elisha is the incident of the lost axe.
While Elisha’s servants are cutting down trees by the Jordan River, one accidentally drops his axe in the water and it sinks. He cries out in despair because the axe was borrowed, so Elisha makes the iron tool float to the top to be retrieved. The purpose of this story isn’t to demonstrate a magic trick or to take up space. It is an every day life snippet that shows us God is concerned with every part of our lives, even losing a borrowed tool.
Many times we neglect to pray about little issues that may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but God cares about them too. When people are starving and suffering from disease, we may feel reluctant to pray for a sore throat or lost keys. Once when I was guilty of this, God asked me, “Do you not think I have enough power to take of your small stuff on top of healing people of cancer?”
I Don’t Trust Numbers
Image by Koen Vereeken via Flickr
I believe in absolute truth, and I believe one plus one equals two, but I don’t trust numbers when they come from the church. I’m not accusing churches of lying. I just think we read too much into our numbers more often than not.
While churches exuberantly announce how many they’ve baptized or how many salvation decisions have made through them, I usually respond with skepticism, and that bothers me a little. I don’t like feeling that way. I don’t like being negative.
Churches with large attendances are not necessarily great churches in God’s eye (neither are small ones, by the way). Paul warned of people flocking to speakers who tell them what they want to hear.
I’ve been active in church all my life, and trust me, that’s been a while. More times than I care to remember I’ve seen people over the years come to Jesus one week and then back to their old ways a few weeks or months later. Salvation is more than praying a prayer. Repentance is more than feeling bad about the kind of person you are.
Receiving the gift of Jesus is simple, but understanding and explaining the salvation process isn’t easy. My pastor explains it well, but don’t ask me to. But I firmly believe Matthew 7:14 – “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Certainly we shouldn’t ignore or disregard a person’s decision to follow Christ. It is a happy occasion, but maybe we should spend more time praying for them to endure to the end than celebrating a victory.
You Have to be Humble First
Image via Wikipedia
Wondering why you may not be getting direction or making progress in a particular area of difficulty or uncertainty in your life? Psalm 25:9 says, “He leads the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.” For us self-sufficient people, humbling can take a while, and sometimes I think God waits a little longer to make sure it sticks.
The best thing for us to do is learn and wait. Waiting on him means not fretting when things don’t go they way we think they should. Waiting on him means not trying to figure out how to makes things happen on your own or even how to “get God to make things happen.”
Max Lucado states in his book God’s Story, Your Story, “God owns the key to every door.” If we do our part (learn and wait), he’ll do his.
Related articles
- How Far is East from West (acmul.wordpress.com)
One Day at a Time
Image by vincen-t via Flickr
While God is always wanting to teach us, there are times when he seems to have set us aside with plans to leave us there until we learn. I sense it is one of those times for me. I hope I am learning. I am getting better at going with the flow of life, not an easy thing for a planner like me.
My mom used to sing a song in church called “One Day at a Time”. The chorus goes like this, “One day at a time, sweet Jesus, that’s all I’m asking of you.” (I can hear the Southern Gospel twangs in my head just reading it.) That is rarely all we ask of him, though. We want all our plans to fall into place with, at best, minimal suffering and pain.
I am trying to get up every day with an agenda of what must be done, then what needs to be done, then what else I have time to do. I am trying not to worry about what I think I should be doing, or what others think I should be doing. I am trying not to think about what tomorrow holds, or what I’m going to do when this gig is up.
There’s a peaceful understanding of planning and preparing for the future in this concept. I know we need to invest for retirement and continue to plan for whatever time we have left here. None of us knows how long or short that will be. But no investment is a sure thing either, so today I will save what I can and do what I can. Tomorrow I will save what I can and do what I can, whether the scenario is the same as today or drastically different.
Perhaps living by faith and not by sight is about living one day at a time.
We Must Fail to Succeed
I saw an old Nike commercial featuring Michael Jordan the other day. It really speaks volumes. Watch it for yourself.
In Seth Godin’s book Poke the Box, one of the sections is titled “The person who fails the most usually wins.” He goes on later in the book to say, “If you can’t fail, it doesn’t count.”
Why are we so afraid to fail?
Caleb’s Faith
Joshua 14:12 – We first saw Caleb’s faith in Numbers when only he and Joshua believed enough to bring back a positive report from their spying mission. Forty plus years later he still believes and is willing to fight for what God has promised him.
Caleb wasn’t afraid to “take” what God had promised him. Are you? How far should we go in “taking” what God says is ours? Have you had a situation where you had to work hard or fight for something God gave you?
Pursue
Joshua 10:19 – Even though God had given them the victory, the Hebrew people still had to pursue and fight the enemy. Many times it’s hard to know exactly what it is God wants us to do, but when it becomes clear we may still have to fight and work hard to make it happen. Occasionally God will drop things in our laps, but that is not the norm. Is there something in your life waiting for you to take it? Pursue!
What Are You Speaking Into Your Life?
Image via Wikipedia
What are you “saying” / thinking God will or is going to do for you? Do you think and live like God can surely do anything like Caleb and Joshua? Or do you operate out of fear of failure? Search deep, this is no time to be prideful. And if you have been underestimating God, repent and move forward.
Repentance is vital. After God pronounced judgement on the Hebrew people, they decided to move forward, but there is no mention of repentance in the scripture. They just acted. They still didn’t get it. Do you?
