The older I get the more I find myself reflecting on the years that have piled up behind me. Some of them come to mind and stir up fond memories of times when it seemed purpose was more clear and God’s hand of blessing more evident. Other moments or even “eras” flare up like the gout. With sharp pain, I am reminded of past mistakes that have had ripple effects down through the decades, decisions made outside of faith and inside of fear and doubt. These are the ones that seem the easiest to spend the most time on, anchoring my thoughts in a past that refuses to change. When, I look at my present, I still find myself in moments where faith seems weak, or completely absent, all while reading the Word, praying and believing I am walking a life worthy of the Lord.
where did faith go?
Sometimes I ask myself, “where did faith go?” The eternity guided warp drive that impelled me forward into spiritual battle decades ago seems to be in need of repair. Once it had empowered me to make choices where the risk of failure was outweighed by the belief that the Eternal, Living, Sovereign God was leading me down paths I had not been before. Now it seems to have gone the way of flexibility, dark hair, and six-pack abs. All these have been lost to the apoptotic ravages of time and a world that seems to be rapidly outpacing my ability to respond, recover, and repair. Overuse injuries and poor choices have led to “safe” approaches toward physical health based on the idea of maintenance instead of continued development and new strength. Does that also need to be the case in the realm of faith as well?
I know I am not the only one and 2020 has not helped for a lot of people. Some have tragically lost loved ones. Others have lost jobs or businesses or wages. Issues relating to racism, misogyny and other prejudices have been brought into the spotlight stirring up anger, fear or indignation. Loneliness, anxiety, martial stress and more are at all time highs and the country seems to be more divided than it has in decades. All of this has had the effect of straining faith and raising questions about the future for many both religious and non.
“Father restore to me the joy of my salvation!! Renew my faith. Renew a right spirit in me” are often my prayer. “Bring me back to that place in time where I didn’t simply have a cultural belief in You, living the same life everyone else does, while doing just enough to ease my guilt and be a nice person”. A Google search of the phrase, “restore my faith” yields 1,970,000 hits. Of course, I haven’t checked them all out to see how closely they reflect what I am talking about, but the first page lists many “how to get your faith back” step by step plans and magical prayers that promise to correct your course. This gives me some sense of solace that I am not alone in this back and forth struggle of maintaining the strong and defiant faith that I had at the start of my journey, and even moving beyond that.
I am convinced that this must be simpler than fighting the ravages of time on my physical form, after all, we are talking about faith in the Eternal God, a relationship that does not, or need not end the way physical life does in this dimension! I have heard many sermons, and even preached many more on faith and how it is maintained: Read the Bible, pray, spend one hour a day in devotions. Put this piece of wood from the cross under your pillow. Make sure you don’t say anything negative. . . . blah blah blah . . . . . I wonder if we are missing a crucial component of faith while trying the latest spiritual training fads. In Paul’s letter to the Colossians, he gives them this instruction on how to bolster their faith in the face of false teachings and persecutions the likes of which we in the American Church have yet to experience:
6 As you, therefore, have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it[b] with thanksgiving.
Colossions 2:6-7
THAT’S IT!!! THIS IS WHAT I WANT!! TO BE ROOTED AND BUILT UP IN HIM!! Awesome. . . . . so now I have found a cool way to express what I need. . . . but how do I get there? This is often what we do right? We stop short when we read the Bible, failing to look at the context, just looking for some bumper sticker ready fragment of a complete thought. We wonder why, even though we repeat this partial transcription product over and over in our minds, it doesn’t seem to help. First, let’s clarify that the Bible isn’t some spell book from Hogwarts; repeat this phrase and poof!! “Expelliarmus”!! Your enemy is disarmed and off you go. Paul connects two things to being rooted and built up in Christ and we tend to focus only on one.
established in the faith
It is obvious that faith is at the core of a walk in which we are rooted in Him. Paul says here that it is faith upon which we are established. It is the foundation of the whole relationship. Faith is not in this context the same as just believing in something. It is the complete removal of dependency on me and placing it on the Father Himself. I can believe in God and not truly have faith in Him. The Bible says even the Devil believes, but he certainly has placed his faith somewhere else.
We mentally understand that a relationship with Christ requires faith. We think of ourselves as people of faith but if I am being honest some times I wonder if what I call faith isn’t really just wishful thinking. The secret may be that we are so focused on 1 part of a 2 part cascade. What Paul ties to faith, what he places in a kind of reciprocal relationship, may just be the exact thing that builds faith up to the point that we can truly be rooted in Christ.
spiritual feedback: thanksgiving-faith
Read it again, “established in the faith…abounding in it WITH THANKSGIVING”. The two are inexorably linked and when we put our minds to it, it becomes obvious that they are connected in a feedback loop that falls apart if one of these is neglected. There are many feedback loops in nature but let’s look at one modern christianity is all too familiar with. You are in service worshipping away to the latest cookie cutter “worship song” (sorry, that’s for another article) and the worship leader who is lost in the Spirit ventures too close to the stage monitor (no in-ear monitors at this location). a faint ringing sound begins in the system which crescendos into an ear piercing screech and you are suddenly snapped out of your worship coma! Been there? To put it simply, vibrations from the singer create impulses in the microphone which create vibrations in the speaker, which create impulses in the mic if it is too close and create stronger vibrations in the speaker, creating stronger impulses in the microphone which create more vibrations in the speaker which create. . . . . . well, you get it right?
Thanksgiving and faith are linked in a similar feedback loop. Andrew Murray explains it this way in his book Why Do You Not Believe:
Faith has its greatest power in the fact that in believing the soul wholly forgets itself, and with undivided energy looks to God and hears Him — goes out wholly to Him. This is in like manner precisely the nature of thanksgiving, that in it the soul must be entirely occupied with God, with the contemplation of His goodness, the adoration of His Godhead, the consideration of His ways, the expression of His wonders. –
With this in mind, it becomes obvious that in giving thanks we take our minds off
ourselves and place them squarely on the Father, looking at those things He has done in us, through us and to us. In this we are reminded of gifts we have received that we have not earned, the faithfulness of The Creator, His character, and nature, the longsuffering He has approached us with, gentle kindness, the splendor He has brought, victories won, character changed and strengthened, and if nothing else, the plain fact that we have not been destroyed due to our own stupidity and general sinful nature. This then stirs up faith which requires us again to take our eyes off our own ability and place our complete trust in Him which allows us to see His hand at work even in the darkest of times, which stirs up thanksgiving. It is clear then that in those times when we feel that faith is weakest that we ought to look to the discipline of thanksgiving. Have we lazily strayed away from a grateful heart, reminding ourselves of the wondrous work of Salvation and beyond? This may be the very thing that has atrophied faith in our lives and left us dry and powerless. In his letter to the Romans Paul makes this point:
because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
Romans 1:21-23
What was it then that lead mankind away from a faith in their Creator that allowed them to live the life He made them for? When we ceased to be thankful, the faith that He is indeed God and worthy of glory faded and we became futile in our thoughts. In a culture that has become increasingly negligent in the area of gratitude and thankfulness, in general, we find ourselves further and further away from any genuine faith. As that faith grows dimmer, we become increasingly less faithful.
So where do we start if we are to restore a powerful faith that establishes and roots us in a powerful walk with Christ changing both us and the world in which we find ourselves?
It begins with grateful hearts that find the hand of God in all things, regardless of if they look they way you hoped or expected. If we can even only find one word of gratitude, that may be enough to begin to grow faith, both that never was, or that has shriveled and lost its power. If I ask myself why I have not believed, I find the answer may be that I have not continued in Thanksgiving.
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
9 For He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.Psalm 107:8
Coming Soon: Protogratitude 3: Thanksgiving and Joy
Related Articles:
Protogratitude 1: Why Thank You
MURRAY, ANDREW. WHY DO YOU NOT BELIEVE? BIBLIOTECH PRESS, 2016.
The Drum Speaks 