Faith

What is your definition of faith? Using your definition of faith, ask yourself: Do I have faith? When I think of faith, I think of the widow who gave the only two coins she had to the church. This story is found in both Mark and Luke. Now it is believed that Mark, while written by Mark was first the testimony of Peter. I can only imagine what this must have felt like to Peter. Having seen this old widow who was very poor give the only two coins that she had. Peter must have watched and heard Jesus speak and been struck to the core. It was earlier in Mark that Peter tried to walk on water and Jesus had to rescue him. I believe that faith it something that Peter aspired to ever since that point and then to see this woman to do this must have been quite the experience. She expressed such a faith that I believe it moved several of the disciples to tears. She didn't know how she was going to survive after giving away her only coins, but she did it anyway in faith. As Hebrews says, "Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." Now I can say that I have faith in God, but if I'm not actively showing that I believe in God, then I don't really have faith, just as James says that faith without action is dead.

So that brings up another question, what does faith really look like? Does this mean that we are all supposed to give up everything that we have for Christ? Are we supposed to be like the rich young ruler who is told to sell everything he has and follow Jesus? In a spiritual sense, the answer is yes. We are to focus entirely on Christ and what He wants in our life. When we become burdened down with what we have and worry about gaining more, then we lose sight of God. In a practical sense that means doing things intentionally in pursuit of God and using every opportunity to glorify Him. It means taking yourself out of your comfort zone and doing things to advance His kingdom. That may look very different in your own life. Maybe in your own life, it simply means donating money to the church. It may also mean leaving your very comfortable job for a ministry position that pays a lot less. Faith is about sacrificing something to allow God to show up. If we do things on our own, then we're not really using faith, we're simply doing it on our own. When we exercise our faith, we are believing God is who He says He is. It is no wonder that we have such a difficult time with faith. It goes against our logic and our societal norms, yet this is exactly what God calls us to. It's amazing at how we often treat those who act in faith. Their actions don't make sense to us, we may even condemn them for being stupid or at best just assume they are ignorant. We tell them that that isn't how the world works or try to explain to them that they are making a poor decision. The thing is that God has an upside-down kingdom. The things that make sense in our world, make none in His.

I was reading Donald Miller's book Searching for God Knows What. In it Miller describes his lifeboat theory where all of us are trying to prove to everyone else why we are better than others in order for us to stay in the lifeboat. He also describes how Jesus lived and how he did not ascribe to that theory, rather he did everything against that theory. He showed the value of those who were marginalized and how our world needed to learn that we must not show favoritism. Now I believe this lifeboat theory also applies to faith. Often times when we are acting in faith, everyone else may think that we're weird or being naive. If we get caught up in what everyone else thinks then our faith can begin to waiver. If, however, we remember that God loves us and that our faith is our response to that love, then it is our obligation to continue to step out in faith, despite the jeers of those around us. Faith feels unnatural and I think that is why God desires it from us. After all, God wants our devotion to Him to be unhindered and unobstructed and wants us to fall madly in love with Him, just as He is madly in love with us.

Perfect Imperfection

Every now and then I am reminded of some great Spiritual Truth. It always catches me be surprise and it's as though I am rediscovering my toes. It's always been there and I've seemed to take it for granted until now. It's as though all of a sudden I've realized its importance in my life and its life altering implications. I was contemplating the lyrics of a Skillet song that says "You were fearfully and Wonderfully Made". They are quoting David here from Psalm 139 where David is just in awe of God. Its a beautiful Psalm. He just pours out emotion into it and tells of how God has crafted him within his mother's womb. How God saw his "unformed body" and how "all the days ordained for me were written within your book before one of them came to be". David has discovered here how unique he is and how the maker of all the Earth, the One whose "works are wonderful," has created him in His own image. Something that David is not doing here though, is thanking God for specific things about him. He is thanking God for making him exactly as he is including every good characteristic and every imperfection.

Now David certainly had a lot of things going for him, but he certainly wasn't perfect. More notable of his failures include adultery and murder which of course both took place late in life. So why did David sink to that level? Why would he, after being so close with God, decide to commit adultery and then cover it up with murder? If you look through 2 Samuel, you see that David starts out as a war hero, who has slain many Philistines and has been made King over Israel. As the book continues though, you see that David starts to remain at the palace more and more while he sends his troops to fight instead. This man who has fought many battles, probably has the battle scars to prove it, was now sitting in his palace bored. As other soldiers would come back to bring him the news, he probably ached to go to battle, to be back on the front lines and probably started to doubt himself. Suddenly those slight imperfections that he saw in himself began to waiver his self-confidence and that is when his focus came off God and onto himself and slipped into failure.

This Psalm, however, shows David understanding his imperfections and taking hold of them in joy. He is grateful for being exactly who he is, every little imperfection included. He says that he is fearfully and wonderfully made. Those character flaws and imperfections lead him to have a deeper understanding of God's love for Him which in turn gave him a greater Love for God.

I want to be clear before we continue that when I talk about imperfections I am not talking about sin. I am more talking about imperfections that we see in ourselves that if we simply allow God to work, He can use them for His Glory. Here is a story that I'm sure you've heard before, but helps me to illustrate my point.

One day long ago there was a servant who had the responsibility of getting water for his master. Every day the man would take the same two water jugs with him to fetch water from down the road. He would fill both jugs up as much as he could and then would begin to walk back down the road. One of these jugs had a crack in it and would leak water as he walked. The jug would try its best to hold as much water as it could, but could never hold all of it. Day after day the servant would take the jugs to get water and day after day the jug could not hold the water. It began to feel bad about itself and jealous of the one that could hold all of the water. One day it spoke to the servant and cried, "I am sorry, but no matter what I do I can't hold the water like the other jug."

The servant replied, "My friend, have you not noticed the side of the road that I carry you on. Do you not see all the beautiful flowers that are along the road? It is because of you that they are there. If it weren't for you I would not be able to decorate my master's table with beautiful flowers. You see I knew about the crack in you and kept you on that side so that you would water these plants."

From that day on the jug prided itself in seeing the beauty caused by the leaking water.

God knows our imperfections, because He is the one who created us. We are fearfully and wonderfully made and because of that our imperfections are made for God's glory. Take Peter for example. After they arrested Jesus, Peter denied Christ three times showing his almost cowardly behavior. Then in Acts we see Peter as this awesome pillar of the early church. God used Peter's imperfection to share this sharp contrast and to display the Holy Spirit's power. It was for God's glory. Without Peter's self-doubt and cowardice early on, we wouldn't be able to see God's transforming power in his life.

The idea that I was created by God is such an amazing concept and completely life changing. Everything about me was designed by Him. Every little thing that makes me, me was thought of before I was born. The other day was a Lunar Eclipse. This particular eclipse happened on the winter solstice, a phenomenon that hasn't happened in the last 300 years. I was born during this unique time so that I could appreciate the beauty of it just as every part of me was uniquely designed to serve God's purpose in my life. Things that I see as imperfections are not imperfections in His eyes. No, our imperfections are perfections of His Glory. Due to my love of photography I get to see this a lot. Often times I have to take a lot of pictures just to get the right shot in some cases, but every now and then, there are photos that I take that are accidents that prove to be even more beautiful than the original photo. I took a few photos of the Lunar Eclipse and some came out very well, but there was one that I absolutely loved and it wasn't at all perfect, but beautiful nonetheless.

It is through these imperfections that we will be able to give Glory to God and have the opportunity to see His work in our lives. It is beautiful to see that God had me designed and created in such a way as this, so that I might have perfect imperfections.

Winter

I've had trouble writing lately, I have been distracted it seems, or simply uninspired. It could have something to do with the approaching season. We are currently on our way to winter, a season that many people loathe. I can certainly understand why. The other day, while driving, I noticed how bleak and dismal everything looked. The trees were all without leaves, the grass was dying off, even the clouds were not their normal bubbly selves having been replaced by sheets of gray. Whenever I visit my grandparents in Ocean City during the holidays I'm amazed at the scenes. The parking lots normally filled with cars and shoppers is now vacant and utterly deserted. The boardwalk, normally teaming with life and the air filled with the smell of french fries and fudge, is left like a ghost town with signs in the windows saying closed for the winter. It is no wonder that people get depressed or get cabin fever during the winter. It is in complete contrast with all of the other seasons.

If we're honest with ourselves we can acknowledge that we have seasons in our spiritual lives. there are times in our lives where we are bursting forth with fruit and when our growth is evident in all that we do. Other times in our lives we are filled with joy and wonder at new experiences. Still there are other times where we simply shine in our own unique ways and are simply content. Yet we all have our winter seasons. They may seem filled with little spiritual growth, if any. It may be hard to pray or your spiritual disciplines may seem like a chore. I know in my life whenever I hit these points I often wonder how did I get here and why am I here. The other day however I began thinking about it more. Sure winter can be one of those seasons where people are just ready to be done with, but there is such beauty in it.


During the winter, depending on where you live, you get to see snow begin to fall. It lays down this beautiful white blanket of snowflakes, whose intricate design can only be described as an artistic masterpiece. As the snow melts it creates icicles that hang like chandeliers all around. The gentle dripping keeps time allowing us to slow down and enjoy the splendor of it. No other season allows for this kind of beauty. No other time can you experience it. It also rings in true in our spiritual lives. When we are in the winter of our spiritual lives, we should look at it as an opportunity to experience and see a beauty that we can't see the other times. We get to see God work through our weakness, we have the chance to get a better assessment of our relationship with God. During the other seasons, it can be easy to be close to God. They are often marked by our spiritual growth and excitement. In the winter of our spiritual life, however, we may feel distant from God which He allows so that we can truly investigate our relationship with Him. He gives us the opportunity to step back and just admire the beauty of it. When you are in a spiritual winter, take that time to slow down, investigate what God is trying to teach you.