I've been thinking a lot about faith, trials, and the nature of God of late. This past week marked five years since coming home from Santiago, and has been cause for a lot of reflection on my part. Between that and the sudden passing of some dear friends, both stateside and in Chile, I've had plenty to dwell on.
A lot has happened since I stepped off that plane in Manchester, NH, and if ever there were a contest for "World's Biggest Overgeneralization", that last sentence would have a good shot at winning. Life has not been particularly kind, but then again, it has no real obligation to do so, and complaining doesn't change the circumstances.
Over the past few days, I've read my way through two of the books in my collected works of C. S. Lewis, and they've been immensely helpful in reframing everything that's happened and putting it into proper perspective.
In mourning the death of his wife, Lewis wrote, "You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you." How very true this is!
God requires faith of us, and expects us to act in accordance with it. But why? Isn't God omniscient? Doesn't He already know what we believe, how we'll act, and what choices we'll make in life?
Yes.
The temptation to follow that line of thinking is strong, but it doesn't lead anywhere particularly useful without a proper framing of understanding.
Ultimately, God's knowledge of our nature isn't particularly relevant to our existence here - at least not in the eternal scheme of things. What matters far more is our own knowledge of ourselves and our nature, and the only way to learn that is through experience.
For me, this is a huge part of the reason why faith requires action - we have absolutely no way of knowing how strongly we believe in something until we choose to move beyond passive trust and into the realm of active faith. That's a huge part of what Lewis meant.
The trials we face are those moments of "matters of life and death" - in some cases very literally, and in others, more metaphorically. But in the moment, the sense of deep, drastic, even frantic searching are very much real, and can lead us to question whether or not God is there, if He listens, or any one of a number of things.
But faith is first and foremost based in trust. We cannot trust in what we do not know or understand - this is why Christ so often invited others to come unto Him and learn of Him. There is no other way to gain the kind of trust and faith that truly transcend mortality.
We must trust in God; that He is true to His nature, and will keep His promises. That He has all power, and that, in the end, "all things work together for good to them that love God".
Time after time, the Bible testifies of God as a refiner and purifier. How often do we talk about the beauty of this, and yet leave out the reality that the refiner's fire is in no way painless? Could there be growth without pain? I don't have an absolute answer to this, but I'm drawn to think of our own sense of physical pain, and how necessary it is - if there were no feedback to tell us that standing in the middle of a blazing fire, how long would it take us to realize that the decision we made is literally killing us?
Physical pain helps us to recognize danger, errors in judgement, and things that are causing us harm. Without that, we would never learn to not touch a hot stove, or walk on broken glass, or eat a prickly pear whole, or any one of a number of things. Pain is part of what helps us learn, every bit as much as pleasure and joy.
Pain and joy each have their place in life, and are necessary - indeed, they teach us that we truly do "need [God] every hour". If you are passing through trials and pain, no matter where your path along the road of life may be, remember that there is a God - your Father - who knows you personally and loves you deeply. Press on in faith. Trust in what you know, and strive to learn and know more of Christ. These present pains will be as a small moment, and looking back along the trails and trials, we will each understand the purpose and plan behind every turn, dip, and detour.
God has shown that He will preserve us even in the midst of our trials, time and again, and that out of our humble and imperfect lives can and will come the miracles He desires to work. Shall we not go on in so great a cause?
Con amor,
--Mark
A lot has happened since I stepped off that plane in Manchester, NH, and if ever there were a contest for "World's Biggest Overgeneralization", that last sentence would have a good shot at winning. Life has not been particularly kind, but then again, it has no real obligation to do so, and complaining doesn't change the circumstances.
Over the past few days, I've read my way through two of the books in my collected works of C. S. Lewis, and they've been immensely helpful in reframing everything that's happened and putting it into proper perspective.
In mourning the death of his wife, Lewis wrote, "You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you." How very true this is!
God requires faith of us, and expects us to act in accordance with it. But why? Isn't God omniscient? Doesn't He already know what we believe, how we'll act, and what choices we'll make in life?
Yes.
The temptation to follow that line of thinking is strong, but it doesn't lead anywhere particularly useful without a proper framing of understanding.
Ultimately, God's knowledge of our nature isn't particularly relevant to our existence here - at least not in the eternal scheme of things. What matters far more is our own knowledge of ourselves and our nature, and the only way to learn that is through experience.
For me, this is a huge part of the reason why faith requires action - we have absolutely no way of knowing how strongly we believe in something until we choose to move beyond passive trust and into the realm of active faith. That's a huge part of what Lewis meant.
The trials we face are those moments of "matters of life and death" - in some cases very literally, and in others, more metaphorically. But in the moment, the sense of deep, drastic, even frantic searching are very much real, and can lead us to question whether or not God is there, if He listens, or any one of a number of things.
But faith is first and foremost based in trust. We cannot trust in what we do not know or understand - this is why Christ so often invited others to come unto Him and learn of Him. There is no other way to gain the kind of trust and faith that truly transcend mortality.
We must trust in God; that He is true to His nature, and will keep His promises. That He has all power, and that, in the end, "all things work together for good to them that love God".
Time after time, the Bible testifies of God as a refiner and purifier. How often do we talk about the beauty of this, and yet leave out the reality that the refiner's fire is in no way painless? Could there be growth without pain? I don't have an absolute answer to this, but I'm drawn to think of our own sense of physical pain, and how necessary it is - if there were no feedback to tell us that standing in the middle of a blazing fire, how long would it take us to realize that the decision we made is literally killing us?
Physical pain helps us to recognize danger, errors in judgement, and things that are causing us harm. Without that, we would never learn to not touch a hot stove, or walk on broken glass, or eat a prickly pear whole, or any one of a number of things. Pain is part of what helps us learn, every bit as much as pleasure and joy.
Pain and joy each have their place in life, and are necessary - indeed, they teach us that we truly do "need [God] every hour". If you are passing through trials and pain, no matter where your path along the road of life may be, remember that there is a God - your Father - who knows you personally and loves you deeply. Press on in faith. Trust in what you know, and strive to learn and know more of Christ. These present pains will be as a small moment, and looking back along the trails and trials, we will each understand the purpose and plan behind every turn, dip, and detour.
God has shown that He will preserve us even in the midst of our trials, time and again, and that out of our humble and imperfect lives can and will come the miracles He desires to work. Shall we not go on in so great a cause?
Con amor,
--Mark
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