Losing Faith

It's another Gilmore Girls evening for me.

 

In the episode I've just been watching, one of the characters fears that she has lost her faith, so her friend goes round to give it back to her.

 

It's an interesting concept: losing your faith.

 

No matter what we believe, there are always moments when we question our beliefs.  There are moments when we wonder if what we believe is really true, when we doubt ourselves and our faith.

 

But doubt is not the opposite of faith, or the absence of faith.  It is an integral and inseparable part of faith.

 

In fact, even if you lose faith in something and stop believing it, you will unintentionally and automatically start believing in something else.  We all have faith in something: God, religion, science, nature, ourselves ...

 

Faith is believing in things that we can't see, or don't know for sure.  If it could be proved indisputably, it would be fact.

 

The Bible says,

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

 

[Hebrews 11:1 NIV]

 

Doubting is not the absence or loss of faith, but rather the strengthening of it.

 

Without questioning and doubting and wrestling, our faith never grows or develops.  It is through this doubting and refining and redefining that our faith is strengthened.

 

We cannot have faith without doubt. 

 

 

The Frustrations Of Unpredictable Weather

I have found the inconsistencies and unpredictabilities of the recent weather forecasts irritating.  Where snow is concerned, I want to know if I can get excited about it or not.

 

I'm not interested in "maybe" or "possibly" so far as the weather is concerned.  I don't want a percentage of the likelihood of snow or rain or sleet.  I want the actual facts.  I want to know what to expect.

 

Guessing is no use to me.

 

It's a bit like in one of Michael McIntyre's sketches where he says how whenever you ask someone for the time, if they don't know, they will still guess.  I think it's about three.

 

He says, I didn't ask you to guess the time.  I can do that myself.

 

Similarly, I don't need a weather forecast to guess the weather.  I can do that myself.

 

I appreciate that predicting the weather isn't that straightforward or predictable, so no matter how much I want to know for definite what the weather is doing, that won't happen.

 

Still, it would be useful wouldn't it? 

 

You'd know what shoes/coat to wear.  You'd know whether to bother straightening your hair or, more importantly, not to waste time straightening it if it is soon to face the rain.

 

It would make planning for life much easier.

 

But unfortunately, it is not possible.

 

I suppose the weather forecast is an act of faith: will we believe it or not? 

 

Similarly, our walk with God is an act of faith: I don't always know what's going to happen in my life.  I am not perfectly prepared for every eventuality.  But I don't need to be when I'm trusting in God.

 

Faith isn't so much about what you can see, but about what you choose to see and about who you trust to show you.

 

"Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see."

 

[Hebrews 11:1 NLT]
 

I will never get the perfect weather forecast that tells me exactly what I want to know.  There will always be an element of faith and trust involved.  And, this side of heaven, I will never get to know for sure what God is planning on doing in my life - I will never have the perfect 'life forecast'. 

But whilst I don't know what might happen, I know the One who knows.  And that's enough for me.

 

 

 

 

 

Believing Is Seeing

I caught the second half of the film 'Loch Ness' this afternoon. 

 

I remember loving it as a child.  It follows an American scientist who is sent to Scotland to investigate the existence (or non-existence as he believes), of the Loch Ness monster.

 

At one point, as he is beginning to come round to the idea of the monster's existence, he says to one of the characters: "I want to see it so I can believe, too."  But she replies, "No.  You have to believe it to see it."

 

So often we can get caught up in the same cycle in our walks with God.

 

We want God to prove something to us before we believe it.  We want evidence before we will accept it.  We want to know that we can trust Him to provide if we give up our money.  We want to know what His plans are for our futures before we 'agree' to them.  We want to know if He'll answer our prayers before we bother praying.

 

But the Bible says,

 

"We live by faith, not by sight."

 

[2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV]

 

And in another translation, this same verse reads,

 

"It's what we trust in but don't yet see that keeps us going."

 

[2 Corinthians 5:7 MSG]

 

 

It would be wonderfully helpful to know and see everything that might develop and unfold in my future before deciding to trust in God.  It would be excellent to see the truths about Him being faithful and reliable before I decide to put my hope in Him.

 

But unfortunately, that's not the way faith works.

 

Sometimes we have to believe in order to see.

 

Sometimes believing is seeing.

 

 

 

 

 

Childlike Faith

I have spent the evening with the beautiful baby daughter of two of my close friends.

 

Whenever I spend time with my friends' babies, I am reminded of how completely dependent on their parents babies are.  And of how utterly helpless they are by themselves.

 

Babies rely on their parents for food, for milk, for winding them, for changing their nappies, for attention.  They rely on them for everything.  

 

And there is a simple trust between babies and their parents.

 

Babies know that when they cry, someone - usually Mum or Dad - will attend to their needs.  Someone will come to help them and rescue them and give them whatever they need.

 

In the same way, the Bible tells us that God will always answer our cries for help and will attend to our needs; He is our Heavenly Father:

 

        "I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
        he heard my cry for mercy."

 

        [Psalm 116:1 NIV]

 

However, although I know this verse and others which talk about God's provision and His parental care for us, I am aware that I often don't believe this is what He is like.

 

I don't have that simple childlike, or babylike faith which believes that Daddy God will provide all that I need.  There is something in my heart which doubts His goodness, which doubts His kindness and His ability to provide.  Perhaps this is the result of disappointed hopes and dashed dreams in the past - things which have stripped away that childlike simplicity.

 

But I want to return to that childlike faith. 

 

“I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom."

 

[Matthew 18:3-4 MSG] 

 

I want to have a simple and elemental faith again.  I want to be childlike again.

 

Near Death Experience

When I moved into my flat just before Christmas last year, I did a 'big food shop' and overspent on all sorts of things to set me up for the next few months.

One of the things that I bought was the obligatory basil plant.

It sat on my window sill in a cheery blue pot and I occasionally watered it and, even less frequently, actually used the leaves in any form of cooking.

Until one sad morning when I realised that insufficient watering had led to a withered, wilted, yellow, dry plant.

It was on its way to the bin when I thought: It's pretty much dead.  Why not water it and see what happens?  It's not like you can drown it.

So I did.

I drenched it in water and by the end of the same day, it had been restored to life.

But this is not the basil plant's only near death experience.

This has happened at least six times since.  I don't know why, but I manage to forget to water it for days on end.  And then just when it seems as though I really will have to admit defeat and throw it out, I water it and it is miraculously restored to life.

Nearly seven months later, it is still going strong.

It can be the same with us and our faith: we can feel dried out, shrivelled up, weary, hopeless, fed-up and ready to give up.  But in these times, if we immerse ourselves in God's Word and drench ourselves with His love, we can be restored.

"Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst - not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless live."

[John 4:14 MSG]

"He leads me beside quiet waters,

He restores my soul."

        [Psalm 23:3 MSG]


          "I'll refresh tired bodies;
          I'll restore tired souls."
          [Jeremiah 31:25 MSG]


When we're experiencing 'near death' moments in our faith, let's give it one last go; let's soak ourselves in God and His Word and His love and see if that doesn't revive our souls.

Microwave Meals and Take-aways

Aah, the weekend.  A time for relaxing and resting and recuperating.  A time for taking it easy.

And one of the main ways that we take it easy at the weekend is to indulge in microwave meals or takeaways.

Apparently us Brits consume a whopping 2 billion take-aways a year and 40% of us order one once a week.  Combine that with the fact that 83% of us regularly purchase microwave meals due to convenience and you have some pretty hefty statistics.

They are so easy and convenient and (usually) tasty.  We can put in the minimum amount of effort - simply making a phone call, or ordering online, or pricking a cellophane wrapper and pressing a few buttons - et voila, we have a meal in minutes.

But unfortunately these convenient meals aren't very good for us.  It may be cheaper and easier for us to microwave something rather than spending a long time peeling and chopping and boiling and baking, but these meals are usually loaded with fat and sugar and additives.

Whilst it takes longer to prepare and cook a 'proper meal', it is much better for us when we do.

Sometimes our faith can be like this, too - we want something quick and convenient.  Something not too costly and which requires the minimum input from us.  Something from which we can get 'nourishment' without having to 'cook'.

We don't always want to put in the effort.  And we don't always like waiting. 

But sometimes waiting is best for us.  We grow in the waiting.  Our faith is stretched and strengthened in the waiting.

"Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother.  We are enlarged in the waiting.  We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us.  But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy."

[Romans 8:27 MSG]

"God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits, to the woman who diligently seeks.  It's a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God.  It's a good thing when you're young to stick it out through the hard times."

[Lamentations 3:25-27 MSG]

We can choose to eat raw, uncooked food before it's properly 'done'.  In most cases, it probably won't harm us too badly, but we won't get much nourishment from it.  We won't get as much from it as we could.

It's the same with our faith.

The proof, as they say, is in the 'pudding'.

Freefall

I always feel sorry for people who either a) say they don't dream or b) seem to have really dull dreams.  Given that you can do anything in dreams, some people's dreams just seem a bit too much like everyday life.

I like the kind of dreams that couldn't really happen in 'real life'.  Dreams where you fly, or are chased but never get caught.

Or those dreams where you fall and wake up just before you land.

Whilst I don't know that I would ever be brave enough to actually sky-dive, I love the sensation of falling in dreams.

Complete freedom.

Total abandonment.

No strings attached.

God offers us this complete freedom too:

"Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people - free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds.  And not just barely free, either.  Abundantly free!"  [Ephesians 1:7 MSG]

But in order to experience this freedom, we need to let go of everything we're holding on to.  In the same way that to sky-dive, you have to leave the safety of the plane and trust your parachute, we have to leave the safety of our own understanding and trust God.  Trust what He has said and what He has done.  Trust that it is enough and that we can't add to it with our own efforts. 

We can't put our trust in God and in ourselves.

 "Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own.  Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go."

[Proverbs 3:5 MSG]

 
        "You tell me I've been made free

You give me everything I need to walk in my dreams

You whisper words that free my soul

You're the reason I have hope

You're everything I need and more

You made me

You made me free."

[Dara Maclean, Free]

 

 

You can't freefall if you're still holding on.

 

 

Foundations

Any woman or make-up artist will tell you that a good base is essential.

Foundation is important.  It's what everything else is built on.

It's the same with buildings and constructions (so I'm told).  The larger the building, the deeper the foundations need to be.  Wikipedia provides a useful diagram explaining this complex idea:

If we want to have steady and firm, solid lives, we need solid and firm foundations.  It is easy to read the Bible or listen to a talk or chat to friends about faith or be moved by the words of a song.  And then forget it.  It bounces off the skin and doesn't sink beneath the surface.  Our foundations are shallow.

If we want deep foundations, we have to let God's words work their way into our lives:

"If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock.  When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house, nothing could shake it; it was built to last.  But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation.  When the swollen river came crashing in, it collapsed like a house of cards.  It was a total loss."

[Luke 6:48-49 MSG, emphasis mine]

Sometimes we need to dig deep and excavate our foundations.  We find that we have built our lives and our beliefs on false foundations that are not based on God's truths.  We have shaky, shallow foundations which are based on our own ideas and understanding; they are based on false 'truths' and they can't support us when difficulties come.

We need to dig up these false foundations and start over.  And we need to work God's word into the depths of our soul.

"There is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ."

[1 Corinthians 3:12 MSG]

There is only one firm foundation. And His name is Jesus.

Let's build on Him.