Faith
I thought a lot about faith this weekend. My readings from the Bible have been from the Gospel of John, which talks consistently about belief in Jesus, and I had a host of different experiences that got me thinking about it. I helped kids as they worshipped in front of our congregation, I hung out with 25 young adults playing games in a cafe, I spent personal time reading the Bible, I talked with family, I was invited to a service led by an "anointed healer", and I ruminated on the nature and source of faith.
All these things got me wondering. Where is faith? Where is God at work? As I watched 200 kids worship, I saw several not taking part in the songs and most singing along with everyone else, some moving in and out and at times looking catatonic or playing by themselves oblivious to everything else. I then thought of our adult congregations. The one thing we possess that the kids do not is the ability to mask what we are doing. If we couldn't guard what we showed, what would our bodies show as we were at a Sunday service? Faith is such an invisible reality. I found myself hungering, desperately wanting to see true faith. I wanted to see as God did, to be able to recognize where true faith was, where God was truly working.
A harder thing is to live in it yourself. Where in your own life do you find the faith that you need? Not so hard when you have recent experiences to draw from or some clear thing that you can rely on for a visual faith reference. But where can you find faith when the rules seem to have changed, when everything feels different?
I appreciate the challenge of that. And I find always that Jesus' words are so drawing. Who could not be moved by the words, "Anyone who comes to Me will never go hungry, and He who believes in Me will never be thirsty"? And I am reassured by the words, "I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. They hear my voice . . " So I guess there is your answer in a way. The words of God are where faith is.
"You say you want to hit the road 'cause life is so deceiving - Do you think it's different at the other end? You can run to the end of the highway and not find what you are looking for - No it won't make your troubles disappear - And you can run to the end of the highway and find yourself no better than before - No, to find yourself, you've got to start right here.
You say you want to find a place where the people are not lying - If you find a place like that, I'll go there too."
Keith Green
All these things got me wondering. Where is faith? Where is God at work? As I watched 200 kids worship, I saw several not taking part in the songs and most singing along with everyone else, some moving in and out and at times looking catatonic or playing by themselves oblivious to everything else. I then thought of our adult congregations. The one thing we possess that the kids do not is the ability to mask what we are doing. If we couldn't guard what we showed, what would our bodies show as we were at a Sunday service? Faith is such an invisible reality. I found myself hungering, desperately wanting to see true faith. I wanted to see as God did, to be able to recognize where true faith was, where God was truly working.
A harder thing is to live in it yourself. Where in your own life do you find the faith that you need? Not so hard when you have recent experiences to draw from or some clear thing that you can rely on for a visual faith reference. But where can you find faith when the rules seem to have changed, when everything feels different?
I appreciate the challenge of that. And I find always that Jesus' words are so drawing. Who could not be moved by the words, "Anyone who comes to Me will never go hungry, and He who believes in Me will never be thirsty"? And I am reassured by the words, "I know my sheep, and my sheep know me. They hear my voice . . " So I guess there is your answer in a way. The words of God are where faith is.
"You say you want to hit the road 'cause life is so deceiving - Do you think it's different at the other end? You can run to the end of the highway and not find what you are looking for - No it won't make your troubles disappear - And you can run to the end of the highway and find yourself no better than before - No, to find yourself, you've got to start right here.
You say you want to find a place where the people are not lying - If you find a place like that, I'll go there too."
Keith Green
Labels: Bible / Christianity
posted by David at 9:58 AM
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