God’s really been showing me a lot this past month. What is it…the 18th? Yeah, exactly a month. He’s been challenging every aspect of my life, from the physical to the mental to the spiritual to the habitual to the ridiculously-ordinary Matt. It’s true. What you sometimes consider to be very normal and everyday can sometimes be your worst and hardest-to-kill weakness.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, I don’t have too many of those. God’s been digging away at my body, for the most part. What motivates me to work hard? What habits have I created that need to be destroyed? What is my weakness, that I might buffet my body, and make it my slave?<\/em> But I’m beginning to notice a pattern of returned attention to my own faith.<\/p>\n

Faith in what? In God? In this lifestyle that must revolve around a deity I have placed my faith in? In people and occurrences and families and leaders and everything we mindlessly take for granted?<\/p>\n

Well, yes. Yes and no. For the most part, no, but for the part where my faith in God is essential, YES. VERY YES. Because honestly, it’s starting to get through my skull that faith in anything else is unfounded and unnecessary. It’s true. Humans sin, and we can’t help it, and therefore, letting other people down is kinda normal for us, even if we really don’t want to. And since God is not human, and God does not sin, my faith, and ALL my faith, should be in Him.<\/p>\n

This is a pretty casual statement. Lots of professing Christians like to say it. Lots of people in many different religions say it, all the time. It’s the kind of thing you enjoy saying, because it makes sense, because it sounds great, and because it effectively lifts blame from yourself. Come on…admit it. It’s just one more thing you don’t have to be responsible about. It’s my sin. It’s your sin. Let’s be sinners together, and trust in God to save our sorry butts!<\/em><\/p>\n

That is actually true. It’s what I believe. But there also a catch to that: I have to care about it, and work to NOT sin so much. Grace is sufficient, but it’s not to be expected. Grace is overwhelming and gorgeous, but it should also be surprising and heroic. Our faith is not called to be in Grace- it is called to be in God.<\/p>\n

So where am I going with all this? My faith is being challenged. Not in the usual is God really real?<\/em> kind of way. More like the can I trust God to take care of me, in EVERYTHING??<\/em> A job, for instance. As a student, I was hoping to be able to live off scholarships for the remainder of my education, and not have to worry about a job. However, since I am a lousy student and a lazy person, and this is not possible, I have to start looking for work. I trusted God would get me through last year with practically no funds, and He did. I trusted God would give me a job when I needed it, and He did. Not only can I be assured that He wants me here, in school, in this major, right now…I am assured that God knows me, and knows my needs, and provides for me. This is a comforting thought. But it is in no way challenging. In order to hold up my end of the deal, I must make sure I am actively listening for Him, actively and intensely pursuing a relationship with Him, and finally, make sure I am willing to lay it all down and follow Him wherever.<\/p>\n

I’ve always felt called to a life of uncomfortable amounts of faith. It would be a really difficult thing for me, because I’m inclined to enjoy comfort. But it would also be amazing, because there would be no reason to NOT mature in every way. However, before I can begin<\/em> to learn and grow through Faith, I need to understand it first. So this is my prayer. This is the new goal.<\/p>\n

A quote from Psalm 116, verse 7:<\/p>\n

Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This, I pray, is what your faith, and what His Faithfulness, becomes for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

God’s really been showing me a lot this past month. What is it…the 18th? Yeah, exactly a month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[908],"tags":[151,296,361,366,757],"class_list":["post-231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal","tag-christianity","tag-faith","tag-god","tag-grace","tag-sin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n