Doing what we do on mission, we have the opportunity to speak with many people struggling with misfortune ... the hard things of life. I was reflecting on that this morning with a heavy heart for them. I shared previously that the Lord has brought my attention to Galatians 6:2 "Bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ" That is not something that we can do on our own .. the weight is just too heavy for us to carry.
So much of our attitude about life is dependent upon what happens to us and around us. Some things stemming from our decisions and others from the decisions of others. Our plans crumble before our eyes. We suffer loss and are disappointed.... that leads to anxiety, depression and perhaps even desperation. We find ourselves in the "pit". But that is where faith is waiting. To have faith and hope in the midst of a crisis makes no earthly sense. But, the precondition for faith is not that it makes sense - but faith, and hope derived through faith, will always stand in defiance of "sense" and understanding.
It seems to me that the root of faith and hope is found in a relationship with the Creator God through Jesus Christ. That is not the answer that most of the world wants to hear or think about, let alone accept. But ... faith in Jesus is the answer ... as certainly as the fact that gravity will keep you, and every animate and inanimate thing, connected to this earth. You will not just float into space one day because gravity gets turned off or disappears. Once a person is able to grasp that truth about faith .. to embrace it .. to apply it ... the result will be peace .. even in the midst of the storms of life that will most certainly come.
I can share this truth with you, but my sharing won't make it real. Only your believing will do that. So many people are struggling and refusing to believe. Faith is waiting ... it's waiting for you!
(2 Corinthians 4:7-18) "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
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