The Dis-Ease of Faith

Let me be clear right off the bat--I don't think that faith is a disease.  What I am saying is that living a life of faith can make us feel uneasy, ill-at-ease.

Why do I say that?  Because it is quite a challenge sometimes to live our daily lives--the lives where we rub shoulders with real people, and deal with the practical challenges that face us regularly--in faith.  It can just seem that faith and the real world are so different, so very unrelated, that to try and live by faith in the world that surrounds us, seems odd--like it doesn't fit.

Just yesterday I was in the hospital surrounded by a number of people I had never met, and they were dealing with a young man who was shot in the stomach by some people that had broken into their home and began to violently attack them.

So there I was, being the 'pastor'--what to do?  I tried to speak comfort to the family and I asked them if I could pray with them.  So I did.  I asked the Heavenly Father to help them, to bring peace, to bring protection and safety, to bring them to Jesus!

And then I left.

There were no angelic visitations, no choirs that sprang into majestic choruses, no sense of God doing anything miraculous at all really.  But that is faith isn't it?  To believe in things not seen?  Can you begin to get a sense of the 'dis-ease' of faith?  These were people in real need.  They needed physical protection; they had a son, a brother, a friend who was lying on a bed with a bullet in his stomach and prayer just seemed not enough to me. 

I'm just being honest with you because I think this feeling of dis-ease with 'faith and the real world' that I'm talking about is something that many followers of Jesus wrestle with.  It's mostly because of sin's presence that this disconnection exists.  But nevertheless the disconnect is real.  So how do we deal with it?  As Christians asked by God to live out our faith here--how do we actually do that?

In Romans 4:18ff we are told about Abraham whose faith allowed him to believe that, even though he was very old and beyond the normal child-rearing years, God's promise to him was still valid.  Abraham had the faith to believe in God to make a real difference in the real world, even though everything around him tried to convince him that his faith did not fit his circumstance. In the end, his faith proved true, and his circumstances changed.

So two things are important to know: First--we need to know God's promises for us--just like Abraham.  Why?  Because our faith needs something to believe--something tangible, something knowable.  This means that we need to get to know God much more intimately.  Second--we need to begin to understand that though faith might not fit our world, it is not faith that should be seen as optional, it is the way and thinking of the world that is optional--so let's give up thinking 'worldly' and allow faith-living to rise to the top!  This will require us to make the choice to live by faith.  Not always easy, but necessary to be sure.

Lord Jesus--today I ask that those of us who struggle with the dis-ease of faith would be given a new perspective, one that plants us firmly in your promises, and one that spurs us on to openly live our faith in you.  Make our ordinary, daily lives today ones that shine.

I am looking forward to going back to that hospital. . . .

BT