I got up early and settled into my favorite spot on the couch with my Bible and a couple of  my favorite devotional books at that time, which I think were Andrew Murray’s books on prayer.  I read and prayed and then I got to a prayer request which I had been praying for close to a year with no results.  Since I wasn’t sure I should continue to  pray for this request or move onto something else, I said to God, “If  this request isn’t part of your plan then just let me know and also let me know what I should be praying for  instead.”  I’m not sure what I expected, not much I don’t think.  But, I heard that distinct little voice run clearly through my head, “O, ye of little faith.” Truthfully, it sounded a little exasperated, a little like a parent thinking, ‘Aren’t you ever going to get this?’  I can’t say I was real happy with that response. I wanted an answer, sure, but I wasn’t expecting that one.  I liked to think I had some faith.  A rather vague faith, I suppose, but isn’t that what we are taught?  Faith is believing what isn’t there.  That’s hard to do and so it’s easy to live with and expect a vague sort of faith.   So I thought I had faith, but apparently a faith that needed much growing.

Then my automatic  human defense mechanism kicked in, inherited no doubt from our great-great-great-great…………(I’m out of breath now)….great-grandfather, Adam.  I said, “What?!  But, but, but, if I don’t have enough faith than that’s your fault.”  (A little like Adam who blamed Eve for his faults.)  “After all you are the author and finisher of our faith, which means you complete the stuff in the middle too, so if I need more faith then I need you to give it to me because obviously I’m not doing so great on my own.  Oh, and can I have a mustard seed of faith please, because a mustard seed is supposed to move mountains, well wait a minute, how about two mustard seeds for good measure?  Never mind I’d like a bushel full of mustard seeds just to be sure I have enough.  Actually never mind that, can you make it a barn full just to make sure I have enough?”

I imagine God rolling His eyes, shrugging His shoulders and thinking, “Kids! They’re all the same.  Why do I put up with them?”  For the same reason, I supposed that I still love Aspen and don’t kick her out of the house just because every night she uses every trick in her arsenal to stay up late.

God did not immediately give me a barn full of mustard seeds.  This experience happened a little over two years ago.  I still pray that prayer request.  In fact, while I have your attention, I’m going to ask you to join me in prayer for that prayer request.  In the last couple of years God has provided some faith building experiences.  Nothing earth shattering, some of them fun, Before They Ask,  some of them not so fun Danger Over The Hill.  They seem small, but I will trust that God knows the best way to finish my faith.  I do know that they build on other faith building experiences from the past.

Let’s look at the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 in Mark 6:30-44.  The disciples wanted to send the people away so they could get themselves something to eat.  It makes sense doesn’t it?  They knew they didn’t have any food or money themselves to feed that many people.  But, Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.”  He knew that with His help they could feed the people, but the disciples didn’t know that yet.  They gave him what they had, five loaves and two fish.  How paltry, it was truly nothing.  Even broken into the smallest of pieces it wouldn’t have given a crumb to everyone there.  But, when God works, no one goes away hungry.  Jesus took the five loaves and two fishes and gave thanks for them.  He gave thanks for them.  I can’t say I’ve always given thanks for the little, I’m more likely to give thanks for the big and complain about the little.  But, Jesus saw the big in the little and gave thanks for it.  He acted on the faith God had given him.  Then He gave out the little that he had and God multiplied it and not only did every one have a full stomach, no one had to do without.  There were twelve baskets of left overs.  God fed them so much they couldn’t eat it all.  They had left overs to prove it really happened.  He didn’t just leave them with the five loaves and two fishes they had started out with.  No.  They had more than they started out with.  Why?  Because that is how God works.  You give Him everything you have, all five loaves and two fishes, enough apparently to feed the boy who had brought it with him, and he multiplies it by over 5000.

Stop to think about that for just a moment.  When God asks you to do something, do you say, ‘Well i don’t have much to give, I don’t really have any talents like others do so no I don’t think I will do it.”  Now picture giving God thanks for your tiny little talent and watching God multiply it by over 5000.  I challenge you in this next year to let God live big faith in you this year.

But my God shall supply all you need according to the riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  Phillipians 4:19

Brett came upstairs from his man cave and announced, “I think I have a new title for a blog post; I Can No Longer Defend the Faith.” He gave me a brief synopsis of his thoughts and the light went on in my brain.  I said, “I like it, I can just see it.  The Pharisee’s who defended their faith and turf by keeping others who didn’t belong, according to their standards, out of their church, while Jesus stood on the hillside speaking to anyone who would listen to Him.”  It seems ridiculous for us to try to picture the disciples roaming about the hillside frowning at people because Jesus had told them that people shouldn’t come to church in a pair of jeans.

Think how different the new testament would read if Jesus would have based his ministry on the popular theology of the day.  Here is a tongue in cheek revisiting of “The Good Samaritan.”

I have new perspective of the story of the good Samaritan.  I have looked at it from the viewpoint of the priest and the Levite.  Rather than casting the priest and Levite as the villains, let’s cast them as the heroes.  Take a look at the situation from the priest and Levite’s perspective.  The man was going to die anyway.  He shouldn’t have been stupid enough to put himself in a situation where he would be beaten and robbed.  If they helped him their own safety would be in jeopardy.  I can see why they needed to put distance between themselves and him.  The priest and Levite, like most people including myself, prefer to live an ordinary life  untouched by too many ups and downs.  Besides if they helped him their own clothing would become stained with his blood and everyone knows blood stains are hard to get out, sometimes permanently ruining an article of clothing.  Yes, it was best to cross on the other side of the street.

Now let’s cast the good Samaritan as the villain rather than the hero.

Let’s be honest, the good Samaritan gives us an example we would not want to emulate or encourage others to do.  The Priest and Levite had committed God’s commands to heart, and knew what He declared “clean” and “unclean”.  They are to be admired for resisting the temptation to cast God’s law aside and participate in an activity, no matter what good might come from it,  that would break God’s commands and defile them.  Even in the face of what many people might praise them for, they held fast to the law and held principle above people.  Now that is true Christian courage, resisting temptation, even to do good, when it goes against the law.  The Samaritan did not hold the same regard for God’s law as the priest and Levite.  He tossed aside those commands with reckless abandon to follow what his own heart told him to do, and we all know there is nothing more deceitful than the human heart.  Yes, to follow the example of the Samaritan could be disastrous to our own spiritual status and could even rock the very foundations of the church, and no one wants that.

Now to get back on track.  The good Samaritan lived his faith, he lived the love God put in his heart.  He didn’t have to go to church and preach a sermon or teach a lesson on how to defend your faith.  He lived it and people saw it.  His faith spoke for itself.  Jesus faith in his Father spoke for itself.  Because he accepted and truly believed he had  the perfect love of his father he could easily share it with everyone else.  He didn’t need to be better than others by bragging about how much the father loved him because he was so perfect.  No.  He just lived his faith in his fathers love and it spoke for itself.

The faith of the Bible greats (Hebrews 11), Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Rahab, Gideon, Samson, David, Samuel and others, still speaks even after their deaths.  Will your faith still speak after death has silenced your tongue?  Will you be remembered for the faith inspired life you walked?

 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning it’s shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Hebrews 12:2

Brett and I made a 9 hour road trip yesterday.  It felt incredibly longer than nine hours.   It was an unusually quiet drive.  Aspen, the child who never sleeps even on a 12 hour road trip, was recovering from the flu and slept for several hours in the back seat.  I had the flu and Brett was thinking deep thoughts as he drove.  We usually don’t lack for conversation, but due to the circumstances it was quiet in the car with a few exceptions.  I’m not sure how we got to the topic of faith, but Brett mentioned that faith in God and His leading would always have some doubt because we just can’t know for certainty what the future holds and you can’t prove for certain that God exists.  I think I agreed with some mundane comment like, “I suppose”.  But, my thought was; “When does our faith become bigger than we are?”  When do we run free in God’s grace and believe He truly does have our best interests in mind?”  That’s how I picture big faith.  Faith that always believes and always receives the best.  A faith that is exciting even in the mundane.  Maybe I can’t always know what that is, but I can know that I am with God and because of that I can see the rain from the thunderstorm as the water of life that helps to grow my spiritual experience.

At what point in time does our faith become bigger than we are?  Maybe it happens when we stop looking to ourselves and what we can accomplish and look to God and what He can do.  I can’t turn water into wine, but He can.  I can’t raise the dead to life, but He can.  I can’t forgive, but He can.  I can’t apply mud to the eyes of the blind and then they see, but He can.  I can’t part the Red Sea, but He can.  I can’t provide complete peace for my soul, but He can.

Imagine walking around entirely blind.  I can’t walk very confidently blind by myself, but when I hold onto someones hand who I know will take me to all the best places then I can walk confidently even when I can’t see where I’m going.  I just trust they will help me cross the street when there are no cars to hit me.

If I were a parent with a blind child that I devoted my life to taking all the places that were best for them and they trusted that every place I was taking them was good even when they didn’t want to go, well just imagine!  As a parent I like to think I will do and want only what is best for my children.  In reality, I know my parenting skills aren’t perfect.

God is my father.  He’s my dad.  My parent with the perfect parenting skills.  Wow.  Why won’t I believe He will only take me to the best places if I walk blindly by faith with Him?  When I follow someone other than God, it’s like the blind leading the blind.  I hate to admit it, but I’ve certainly tried to live my life with God behind me rather than in front of me a few too many times.  It makes no sense does it, to rush blindly into life while I try to drag God along behind me.  But, as a human, pride leads me to believe I should have my own way.  Unfortunately while I rush ahead in my own plans I can’t see the unhappiness it brings in the long-term.  I am temporarily trading immediate satisfaction for long-term fulfillment.  God’s plan on the other hand usually has me going through some great, albeit not so fun, learning experiences before I get to the everlasting joy stuff.

I challenge you this year to commit to a New Year of living not by sight, but by big faith.  May our Father lead us every step of each day this next year.