Die to Live

It seems like so much time and energy is spent trying to stave off death. Eating right, excercising, even engaging in more obscure manners of prolonging life such as cryogenically freezing oneself. I was looking at the passage in the Bible the other day though (Matt. 16:24) where Jesus says "If any man would come after me, he must pick up his cross and follow me." And I realized that in order to truly follow God, we MUST die. We must die to our sefishness. We must die to our fears. We have to be willing to do whatever he requires of us.

This is not an easy thing. I felt the struggle so poignantly as I readied myself to make calls to churches to schedule speaking engagements the other day. Inevitably there are "no's" and rejections in these types of phone calls, and my old insecurities were so strong that I didn't want to face the calls. I knew that I had a message for God's people, though. I had a choice.

I could choose to let my fear of "death" (in this case death of my ego, my feeling of self-worth) stand in my way and shrink back, or I could allow myself to die and move forward. The following phrase has become my courage: "I must not be afraid of death because from death springs life. Without death, there is no TRUE life."

Faith is not a "Glooey Kablooey."

I am realizing as I have talked with Christians lately that we tend to think that Faith is this "path" that we have to find. And that once we find that path, that everything will be clear to us, that the road will be sunny and birds will sing. We think that the path will be easy to follow - that somehow, there will be a "glooey kablooey" and everything will magically fall into place.

There are two points that are important, one is true, one is not: the first point is God has a faith-path for us. Absolutely true. Jeremiah 29:11 says "For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." God does have a plan for us. He has a way mapped out for us. He wants us to prosper.

We have to believe this, because the second belief - that once we find the path that God has for us, everything will be easy is not necessarily true. Take Abraham for example: what do you think was going on in his head as God told him to kill his own son? Do you think he experienced doubts? I would have. What did he tell his wife as he left to kill his son? How did this ninety-year-old man get his son to submit to this? Did he say "Trust me son, I've got to tie you up now, because I'm going to kill you?" I somehow don't think that would have gone well. I'm sure that he had extreme doubts.

Faith by its nature is filled with doubt. Faith is believing in God and what He has told you to do despite the doubt. Faith is not a "glooey kablooey" because if it were, it wouldn't be faith. So take heart, just because things are hard, doesn't mean that you are on the wrong path. Sometimes it means that you are exactly where you need to be.