Crazy Faith

With faith, you'll move mountains, Jesus said. With faith, you'll walk on water. With faith, you'll overcome the enemy. With faith...


The Bible asserts over and over that faith is a vital weapon we need, a tool for accomplishing the will of God in our lives. It definitely is.


But I realized something really crazy today. I realized that the purpose of faith--conquering giants, etc--wasn't supposed to be my reason for desiring faith. Why? Because then our perspective can get skewed. If faith is desirable only as a tool for accomplishing specific ends, then I'll discard it (or adapt a different religious faith philosophy) if it doesn't seem to accomplish my desire.


In fact, that's exactly what I did early in my Christian life. But what does the Bible indicate should be our one desire? To please God. And Hebrews 12:6 states explicitly, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God."


I always thought this Scripture referred mainly to faith for salvation, but I believe now that faith for salvation is like a seed that is meant to grow. Faith implants within our souls by the power of the Holy Spirit, yet it isn't meant to remain immature or dormant. Faith grows, it expands, it matures as we nourish ourselves in the water of the Word.


So what do we do when crazy faith humiliates us? We rejoice...because by stepping out and risking our pride to obey what we believe God is speaking to us in our hearts and stirring in our spirits...by stepping out, we please God. And when we step out again and again, accepting with humility when others don't understand or we make mistakes, that's when our Papa throws back His head and laughs with great joy.


Because the enemy couldn't stop us. Couldn't stop us from throwing ourselves--our lives, our finances, our hopes, our dreams, our fears, and our relationships--in with God. And being radically committed to Jesus is, after all, the entire purpose of a Christian life.

~~Speak, Daddy. I'm listening. And I'm all in.~~