The Roots Of Faith

SEP 5 - SEP 11 2010 — THE ROOTS OF FAITH  — ISSUE 170

EXPLANATION ABOUT LAST WEEK:
As most of you noticed, I wasn't really around last week. Well, I was, just not as the writer of the 'C. Why not you ask?(or at least I pretend you're asking) With last Monday starting a new chapter in my life, I figured I may as well shake things up a bit. For 164 straight weeks (roughly 3 years and 7 weeks) I've been dropping by your in-boxes with whatever God's put on my heart and attempting to bring a chuckle or two while hopefully giving you some spiritual thought to chew on. The response has been unbelievably encouraging over the years, something I am continually grateful for. This also means if you have 1000 emails in your in-box ('cuz someday you may need one of those, right?) and you haven't deleted any 'Cs, I account for nearly 20% of your total emails. That's a lot of vitamins. Your doctor would be proud.

Anyways, the streak is something I am grateful for and very proud of as it is one of the few things in my sporadic life I've started and continued with; fueled by my love for God, His continual placement of ideas on my heart, and by many of you taking time to respond with personal reflections on what I've written. But in an attempt to spice things up a bit, get some outside influence, give you some fresh perspective, and to end that weird hold pride can sometimes have, I've asked some close friends to take a shot at writing a C. Expect to see guest authors poke their heads in to administer a little Vitamin of their own every now and then.

The first man to step to the plate was Robert Segovia. He handled his approach and my request with the utmost respect, making me feel much more honored than I deserve, and I'm not even sure he realizes how much I look to him for spiritual guidance. Hopefully through his writings last week you got a glimpse into why. I also hope I don't get dethroned by allowing others to write, leading to a revolt from you, the readers, wanting me to hand the reigns over indefinitely. Then I'd have to start some rival email newsletter called "the Email Formerly Known As The Vitamin C". (And it's outdated Prince jokes like that, that made you miss me, right?)

THE MEAT:
Just like the last time I spoke on a Sunday, there were a few things I didn't include in the sermon. As any director, author, musician will tell you, there's a part of you that wants to get some of the things left on the cutting room floor out there, so hopefully these few remnants will be of benefit to you.

Can you believe someone is telling the truth, that they will come through with their promise if you don't trust them? I think most of us would agree under most circumstances, if we don't trust a person, their word holds no weight. Maybe this gives us a clue as to why our prayer life, relationship with God, and the way He works in our life can be almost non existent at times.

Faith is believing God will overlook all your sin, all your mess-ups, all the mean, wicked, and ugly things we've done in our lives, and grant you eternal life. It's believing that He will still use you, despite your shortcomings; that He'll grant you things you don't see, no matter how many things you can see which you think stand in your way. This is a testament to how deeply grace and faith are intertwined. If you can't accept grace, then you don't trust God. And if you don't trust Him, you can't have faith in His promise.

If the demon possessed man (Legion from Mark 5) had lacked faith and did not understand grace, he'd never of wanted to follow Christ. The things he did had terrified the towns so much that they'd put him on the outskirts and had tried to chain him up. Those things could have haunted his mind, plagued his conscience, and never let him sleep at night. But he was able to accept God's grace, and Jesus' offer to go and promote what the Son of Man had done and could do for everyone. Similar stories can be found throughout the entire Bible. David's rise from his adultery, Abraham's rise from his lying about his wife (twice), Peter's comeback after his denial of Christ, and the countless people Jesus healed and forgave sins for during His ministry.

If you want faith, you must start with understanding grace. Only by trusting God's word and His promises to us, that He can overlook anything we've done, can we begin to trust Him to do amazing and powerful things in our lives. Otherwise our uncertainty and doubt will forever paralyze our walk, leaving it lacking and noneffective. Let's be a Church of believers. Let's be a Church of trusters. Let's be a Church built on faith.

DEUTERONOMY 7:9

Brett "If writing the 'C were like playing baseball, people would accuse me of Juicing to get a streak like that" Hibbler