We call it our faith...
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We call it our "faith journey" and rightly so. Pastors deal with the term all the time. They know that no two people are at the same place on their "faith journey." They also know that everyone has a measure of faith. Building up the faith of the local congregation is one of the major tasks of any pastor. Faith to believe in the promises of God. Faith to venture out on a particular mission. Faith akin to the giants of faith listed in Hebrews chapter eleven.
Where are you today on your "faith journey"? Do you believe the days ahead will be better than the days of the past? Does the aging process increase your faith and lessen your fears? Or could it be the other way around? As a hospital chaplain to veterans, my days are spent with those questions. Two veterans in beds side by side often have vastly different points of view about the "faith journey." We are usually told that the opposite of faith is fear.
Martha and Mary were sisters. Martha was the active sister. Mary was more contemplative. They had a brother named Lazarus. They loved Lazarus as they should. But they were at different points on their "faith journey." So, when Lazarus became ill, they sent word to the Great Physician asking for a "house call." In time Jesus came to their town. He didn't find his friend sick; he found his friend had been buried for four days. And the two sisters had mixed "faith" for the future. Martha believed in the possibility of resurrection for Lazarus. Mary knew only that he was dead; Jesus had not come soon enough for her. So many times the negative thinker has lost all hope: it's over -- and hopeless. But the person with a positive outlook never gives up the hope of the resurrection. Resurrection from a sickbed, or resurrection from the dead -- it is still resurrection. Do you believe God resurrects?
-- Shearer
Where are you today on your "faith journey"? Do you believe the days ahead will be better than the days of the past? Does the aging process increase your faith and lessen your fears? Or could it be the other way around? As a hospital chaplain to veterans, my days are spent with those questions. Two veterans in beds side by side often have vastly different points of view about the "faith journey." We are usually told that the opposite of faith is fear.
Martha and Mary were sisters. Martha was the active sister. Mary was more contemplative. They had a brother named Lazarus. They loved Lazarus as they should. But they were at different points on their "faith journey." So, when Lazarus became ill, they sent word to the Great Physician asking for a "house call." In time Jesus came to their town. He didn't find his friend sick; he found his friend had been buried for four days. And the two sisters had mixed "faith" for the future. Martha believed in the possibility of resurrection for Lazarus. Mary knew only that he was dead; Jesus had not come soon enough for her. So many times the negative thinker has lost all hope: it's over -- and hopeless. But the person with a positive outlook never gives up the hope of the resurrection. Resurrection from a sickbed, or resurrection from the dead -- it is still resurrection. Do you believe God resurrects?
-- Shearer
