Talk is cheap. It’s hard to move from just talking to doing. It takes a little confrontation. Confrontation is much better for us than we often think. Comfort is the haven of most American Christianity. We have lost the sense of discomfort that comes with saying yes to Christ’s Lordship.
True faith is filled with impositions. It’s just not convenient to truly follow Christ. Being interrupted is a surefire sign you are being directed and led by the Holy Spirit. God’s leading often can take us through the painful as well.
There are two occasions people are vulnerable to losing their faith. One, when they encounter the loss of a loved one. Two, when they suffer what seems to be unfair pain. I spent some time ministering to believers behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. I found those people expected to suffer for their faith. And they expected a life of hardship. It was thrilling for them when they didn’t.
It takes a hardy soul to face up to the fact that God guides our journey through many unwanted trails. God guides us more consistently than we think and often we don’t know it. God has been formulating our lives since our conception. Think about this truth, if it hadn’t been for your father turning his head to look at your mother you would have never been. The spermatozoa that made you would have never found its mark. And someone else would be reading this now. Such small everyday matters that make such huge differences in the experience of life.
Just think that had the Apostle Paul’s parents not kissed for the first time he never would have been. God is in the simple things that seem to be of little importance but are as powerful as the universe. And he is also in the painful things that hurt a lot.
I have a little test I give myself to see if I am adequately inconvenienced to be a Christian. I ask:
Has my faith altered the way I use my time lately?
Has it altered my life goals?
Has it altered how I treat others?
Has it caused me to alter the way I treat others when they inconvenience me?
Hs it altered my choices?
Has it altered the way I use my money?
Has it altered what I think or talk about?â€
Has it caused me to put others first with a smile?
Try these on for size. You may find that your faith has not marked your life as much as you think. Why don’t you try and develop a faith that doesn’t seek convenience, prosperity, self-comfort, or ease. It may take you closer to the faith of those who have guaranteed we experience God as we have.
