Gift of Faith

Some of us struggle most of our lives with faith. We want to believe. Yet, we try in our own power and strength to have the faith of Job. Well, maybe Job’s life isn’t something we would willingly pursue.

Job was a man who had everything and then lost it all. His neighbors gave him all kinds of advice yet they thought his losses were the result of sin in his life. His wife suggested he curse God.

Someone once told me to never pray for patience and used Job’s life as an example of what could happen. And so, for years I didn’t. It wasn’t until I was experiencing great disappointment and heartache that I realized something. I needed the patience of Job to help. How silly of me to not pray for something I desperately needed.

It’s the same with faith. The truth is, faith is a gift (Ephesians 2:8). We scramble around in our circumstances looking for faith. That’s the problem. We can’t get faith on our own. It’s a gift from God. And sometimes, we refuse to receive it even when God has already given it to us.

If we honestly look at our lives, we’ll begin to see that we have faith in so many things – like faith in our country, in the laws, and in people. We even have faith in things we don’t understand. We have faith that our cars will start when we turn the key. We even have faith in strangers. Think about that the next time you drive on a crowded interstate or board a plane. We have faith that the drivers around us will drive responsibly. We have faith that the pilot can fly that airplane and get us safely to our destination. I think our general understanding, knowledge and experience provides the basis by which we live our lives in the physical realm.

It’s the same in the spiritual realm. The more understanding and knowledge we have of God, the more we trust Him. Yet there are times when nothing makes sense and it feels as if we’ve lost everything. This may be the place where we find a most precious truth. Our lives may resemble Job’s, but if we have God, He is more than enough.

Maybe this Christmas, we’ll open the gift of faith and step into realm of spiritual understanding.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see, Hebrews 11:1, NIV


Christmas Blessings, Francine

1 comments:

    On 1:48 PM Magdaleine said...

    Awesome, awesome message, Francine! Good job!

     
 
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