Faith Deepening

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1 NIV)

In a UCC Still Speaking daily devotional written by Peter Ilgenfritz, the author remembers a day in divinity school shortly before graduation when a speaker told the class,

"I want you to remember that in the churches you will serve, toward the back of the sanctuary Sunday after Sunday will sit a quiet, elderly woman and man who will know more about faith than you will ever know."

Faith is not about theology.  You don't learn faith from sermons.  You don't learn faith from Sunday school or in depth Bible study programs.  True faith comes from living life.  I know that couple the speaker above was talking about.  But they are not just one elderly couple.  I know so many faithfilled people who no one would blame if they just walked away from God.  They have suffered.  They have borne great loss.  They have seen their own children or grandchildren die before them, or have seen their children suffer. Some just seem to suffer a constant string of disappointments.   And yet they praise God even more loudly than the rest of us.

It's easy to have faith in God when all is well... when life is going as it was meant to.  But it is often a shallow faith.  I don't look at life's storms as tests of faith, but as exercises in deepening our faith.  Faith isn't a belief that God is going to make our lives easier, it is knowing that even when the worst we can imagine happens, it's all going to be ok, because God is in control.  Faith brings a joy that no amount of theological or biblical knowledge can bring.  Faith is what makes us not even think about walking away from God, because how could we get through our darkest hours without him?

Our churches will be crowded this Easter Sunday.  But look around you... you will notice that the most familiar faces belong to the "quiet, elderly couple that know more about faith" than most.  And they may not necessarily be quiet or elderly or a couple.  But they have lived real, down-to-the-toes faith.

Father,
I pray for all of those who are in faith deepening situations right now.  Hold them close as they go through it.  Bless them and let them know it really is going to be ok, because you are in control.  Amen.

Joys:  The funny, but very honest things 4-year-olds say; a productive day at work yesterday; sunshine, even if it is still too cold.