Urban Idealist

In my last entry I talked (or typed) about pleasing God (or not) and I left out something that God made really clear to me last night. This is a no-brainer, but faith is really important. In fact, IT is what we do that pleases God. You know ‘it is by faith that you have been saved’, ‘by faith Abraham was justified’, ‘if we have faith the size of a mustard seed’. The passages in Scripture go on and on about faith.

When two people are friends and they experience things together, their relationship is stronger and deeper, and pretty much better. When we step out if faith, expecting to see how God is going to be true to His promises, it’s like having an experience with a friend that makes your relationship deeper. I think that we as followers of Jesus like to read about Him, talk about Him (a lot of talk about Jesus), talk to Him, and listen to Him. But there is something about going through an experience with Jesus that makes the relationship that much better. It is beyond all of these other things. It is faith! And honestly, I think God enjoys being true to His promises as much as we enjoy Him being true to His promises. He enjoys the relational experience with us as much as we do with Him.

So, because faith is so important to our relationship with God, I decided to do a little faith investigation last night. I wrote down a bunch of ‘faith questions’ that came to mind. Here’s that list:
1. What step of faith is God preparing for me next?
2. Have I stopped asking God to increase my faith?
3. Have I done anything lately that has required a further step of faith?
4. Have I taken a big step of faith that I now use to justify not taking anymore?
5. Why do I want to take greater steps of faith? For me? For greater dependance? For God’s Kingdom? For the ability to say that I took a big step of faith? For me to feel close to God again?

Last night number 4 hit me pretty hard. I look at my life and the changes that have happened in the past two years. I can clearly see the steps of faith that we have taken. Selling our house, resigning from the ministry at the Gathering, raising support to move to Europe…and we did all these things before we had ever even been to Europe! But the problem is that I feel like in some ways I’m trying to live off of past faith…when faith is only good in the present and future. Since moving here I have stopped asking God to increase my faith and give me opportunities to live in faith because it hasn’t even been on my mind. I have allowed our big step of faith to convince me that I don’t need to seek God for our next step. It’s like, “Well that was great…” and I want to sit around and talk about the good ‘ol times instead of looking to see what’s next. I don’t know which one of these questions hits you the most, but for me…#4 is a killer.

If faith is what God ultimately wants from us, then I suggest we all figure out how to give Him as much as we can…I have a hunch that a deep friendship with God is better than safety.