Monday, June 13, 2016

Another Look at Faith


keithburnettministries.com

             “For this reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness, and to goodness, knowledge, and to knowledge, self-control, and to self-control, perseverance, to perseverance brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love.
2 Peter 1:5-6 (NIV)

            Peter speaks of faith as the basis of the traits that, when we let Jesus guide us, makes us become more like Him. When I consider the order in which these qualities appear in his writing, I believe Peter experienced the presence of his journey to who he became because of his experience with Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

            Faith is basic to our belief in God. The passage in Hebrews (11:6) plainly states we have to believe in God before we can approach Him. We learn faith when we face difficult times and place our trust in Jesus Christ.
            I have had several friends in my lifetime whose faith attracted me to them and to the Lord. My memories of them sustain me in times when I could feel overwhelmed with certain issues that affect my life. As I have experienced some “surprises” in life, I realize I have also matured in the faith.
            Last autumn, I went through the hardest time of my life. I broke my ankle in four places. Because of this injury, I was in a rehab center for three months. I was 100% non-weight bearing for about 8 weeks. I had to learn to transfer from a bed to a wheelchair and had to have all my meals in my room. My only times out of my room was to go to therapy and, later on, to the in-house beauty shop.
            I learned the importance of saying, “Thank you!” to all who tended to my needs. I felt humbled by the CNA’s willingness to stay after a shift change to help me. They worked 12-hour shifts. These women were on their feet the whole time of their shift. What I am trying to say is our faith can grow because of difficulties we face.
            Whenever we face tragedies, we should not pray. “God, please take this away from me.” Or, “God, get me out of this mess.” Rather, we should pray, “God, what is it you want to teach me through this?”
            In our life experiences, there are lessons God wants us to learn that we would miss if we did not have certain issues in our lives.


             

4 comments:

  1. Excellent post and so true. We are more likely to get an answer to "Lord, what do you want to teach me through this?" than to ask "Why?"

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    1. Mary: Thank you for your warm thoughts. I remember asking "Why?" when my stepmother was diagnosed with breast cancer the second time. God didn't answer me but He was with us and taught me several things during that time.

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  2. I try not to ask WHY questions to God. Excellent post Cecelia, thanks.

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    Replies
    1. Marja; I understand about trying not to ask "Why?" to God. I believe, as we mature in Christ, we all learn not to ask that question.

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