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I believe an important reason why God so often asks us to take a first step has
to do with the nature of faith and how it grows. Many of us wish, at certain
points in our lives, that we had more faith. We torment ourselves over having
too little of it. We are certain that our lack of faith is the reason for
unanswered prayers or for our spiritual weakness, or our lack of faith is the
reason why God feels so distant.
When we wrestle with our doubt, we might tell ourselves that we must try harder
to have more faith. But faith is not the sort of thing that can be acquired by
trying harder. In Yellowstone Park, California, there is a geyser called Old
Faithful. Day or night, year in year out, Old Faithful erupts every 30 minutes.
The best way to know this to be true is just to hang around Old Faithful, there
is no point in trying harder to believe. It is the same with God. Never try
harder to have more faith - just get to know God better. And because God is
faithful, the better we know him, the more we will trust him. The way to get
to know his trust-worthiness is to risk obeying him.
A father came to Jesus and asked for help with his child, we read about this
account from
Mark 9 v14-32,
in
v22
the father asked "...if you can... help us".
"If?" Jesus says.
"All things are possible to him who believes"
v23.
The father replied "I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief" v24. Like
most of us he was a mixture of trust and doubt. How much faith did this father
have? Let me tell you he had enough to come to Jesus in the first place, and
that was enough. How much faith do we need? Not a feeling of certainty. Just
enough to take that first step.
I want to finish and look at something I mentioned a moment ago about honouring
our material. When you look at a lump of clay what do you see? Discerning
what God wants us to do within his general will and discerning God's specific
calling on our lives will take some serious self-exploration. For when we
arrive on this planet we do not come predefined, who we are and what we are
capable of doing is pre-developed. We arrive into this world with a little
warning: some assembly required. When we come into this world we look more
like a lump of clay than with the potential to be a masterpiece of work.
Skilled artists and craftsman know how to discern the nature of the material
they are working with. Great sculptors spend much time studying a piece of
marble before they ever take a chisel to it; they describe what they do, not so
much as imposing a shape on the marble but releasing what is always there.
Skilled potters know that as they knead and press clay, it presses back,
telling them what it can and cannot become. On the other hand, mere amateurs
like ourselves in junior school and the age of seven when we were given a piece
of clay it always ended up as an ashtray.
We also have a nature within us, with its potential and limits. One of the
ways of discovering that nature is asking this question, what brings me joy?
What do I enjoy doing for the sheer sake of doing it? For what do we have
desire and passion for - for these, too, are gifts from God. This is why
giftedness is about more than just talents - it includes passion.
What do you get excited about?
Are you willing to take that first step of trusting God?
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