Faith and Faithfulness (part 2)

In my last post I talked about my experience reading Hebrews and the lesson of faithfulness. I spoke about how I am concerned that we ignore those who exibit lives of faith but don't yeild their blessing in their lifetime. We only lift up the lives of faith that seem to show immediate results. In the era of the blog and mobile posting we have an up-to-the-second culture that wants results NOW. We go to conferences of people who experience the perceived immediate gratification of their 'faith'. While these are one side of the coin of faith I believe there are other lessons we as the church should learn.

I heard a conversation while studying that struck a chord. As I'm having these thoughts about faith and faithfulness I hear these two guys who sit down at a table near me. Apparently they are old friends and one recently got a job at Regent University. One guy is down on life and honestly has a crappy attitude (which I'll likely post about later) and the guy with the new job is encouraging him and attempting to push him in the right direction. While the guy trying to help said a lot of things that I agreed with and while he had much more patience than I did, I felt that some of his advice was a little skewed and frankly speaks to my concern for our view of 'faith'.

The guy needing help says "How do I know that God is in that plan?"

The response: "The door will be open." "If the door isn't open then you know it's not of God."

We've all heard this before. Chances are (fIf you're like me) you've been in a crunch for time or in a super 'spiritual' mood you've even given this counsel. But is it true? Are we to live our lives believing that God only wants us to walk through doors that are open? Is it possible that some open doors are gateways to destruction while some doors that are closed at the present time need the key of 'faith' to become opened? Is it possible that some doors are crutches and God calls us to take on challenges that aren't easy? Or is the Christian life the same as the American I-want-it-now-don't-tell-me-no-or-that-I-have-to-work-hard-for-it type of life?

It's my view that this friend could have given more biblical counsel by seeking out his buddies motives and encouraged his friend that many times God wants us in places that seem bleak so he can shine. God doesn't always shine through your Rolex.... Most of the time he shines through your sweaty brow and dirty fingernails.

We're pretty proud as a people when we think that the only doors God wants us to walk through are the easy ones as though God is simply our cosmic butler.

I believe our faith is what unlocks doors. I believe God is honored by our faith and that God gets glory through our faith. Too many times we go to one extreme or the other... we either underestimate the favor of God or we underestimate the faith of his people. I don't think God is the only one who locks doors in our lives.

Sometimes we need a swift kick of the Holy Ghost activated by faith to knock down the obstacles in our lives. After much discernment obviously :)