A great book!
Rather than have too long a blog, I've decided to write this in 2 parts (just because I'm quite likely to go on a bit as you know).
There are so many words starting with C which are great ... think about them:
Connection; Compassion; Courage; Care; Communication; Consideration; Collaboration; Comfort; Clarity; Certainty; Contentment .... complacency isn’t one of them!
I just have a deep seated feeling that I for one, and maybe most of us in our ‘comfortable’ western world, have become complacent in our faith, in sharing our God and His rescue plan which is the only answer to any search for significance, purpose and worth. I don’t fully live out my core values and hopes ... I settle for less than what I should, living in mediocrity ... that lukewarm state which in the book of Revelation is described in rather sickening terms, literally ... God spits out of His mouth the in between hot and cold ... the complacent, lukewarm, pitiable church at Laodicea whose works were neither one thing nor the other.
Living in a rather apathetic society, we have very little to challenge us or force us to our knees on a daily basis. I am most definitely complacent in my prayer life and the crazy thing is, that I know I am limiting God’s power and blessing in my life because of it! So why on earth do I / we do this? Why would we choose to live in this way ... all settled and comfy but massive under achievers when it comes to being a part of God’s plan, His glory and our blessing?
Maybe that's exactly it ... it is comfy and easy. It enable us to pursue our dreams rather than God's. We can fit Him in to our lives rather than fully accept that He gave us our lives and as such, our very breath; how we live; what we own; our futures and achievements should all be His. He needs to be at the forefront and centre of everything. If we could just see God and His power in the everyday detail of our lives, our outlook and responses would vastly change. I don't mean in this instance seeing Him in the detail of our lives in relation to His working and answer to prayer for example, but a step back from that ... His very being and our faith in Him, to drive every aspect of our existence.
There are challenges and persecutions even within the UK. I think that more are to come, but relatively speaking, we still have it easy. Our faith can be contained in an acceptable way, non offensive and all embracing ... we can be at risk of becoming so inclusive that anyone taking a real interest won't be able to tell us apart from anyone else who does good works in the community. What's the difference, why become a Christian, is it just another club? What do we stand for, what are our foundational truths, is the Bible really God's word and if so, do we truly believe and accept everything He says in it? Or are we scared that it may offend or lead to condemnation by certain groups? Watering down the truth so that no-one is offended flies in the face of any faith and is a compromise too far. How would that work in the justice system for example? We don’t deliberately try to offend, but we do adhere to God’s truth ... He is God and can defend Himself, we are just called to follow and obey.
Of course there is a way of sharing the truth we hold close to our hearts and believe in ... speaking the truth with love, that's always the key, don't separate the two. But going back to the title ... am I earnest about my faith? Complacent or Earnest? Am I earnest in prayer? What does it mean to be earnest? What would it look like to have a really earnest faith?
Think about our natural expectation of daily food. Do we even connect it to God? Is He anywhere in the chain of events that leads to our eating and feeling satisfied? We may say ‘grace’ and thank God for our food, but do we really believe He has provided it for us? If we did, then we could equally assume that He could not provide it ... but that thought seems ridiculous because we know we could just nip out to the shop or take away and buy a meal.
I’ve been recently reading the auto-biography of George Müller (1805-1898). If you haven’t heard of him, then look him up. Despite his pretty shocking early life, he came to believe in the reality of the true and living God. He chose to live by faith to an extreme whereby when I read about it I am shocked, amused and baffled. I have at times thought it too extreme and almost nonsensical. The stark and raw reality of being in need and completely dependent on God through prayer to provide for that need, was something he committed to, along with his wife and fellow worker ... even for their breakfast. It is rather challenging!
This may sound dramatic and excessive by description, yet the more I think about it, the more I realise that it is a form of spiritual self-harm, not to pray. More than that, not just pray, but to pray in earnest.
I’ll stop for now ... as I’ve said before, to me the key is perspective and our vision of who God is and where He is in relation to our everyday, moment to moment lives. If God underpins it and is the first layer / filter through which we think and feel, then our outlook, anxieties, desires and fears would dramatically change.
Ingrid x
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