Day 2205 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.


2 Timothy 4:7 NIV

I think it's easy to see our faith as a book. We try to contain it in a church. We confine it in songs and well-written articles or social media posts. We try to keep God in this box that makes sense to us so that we can remain comfortable inside of what we can understand. But our faith is alive. It's active. It's moving. It's this journey that keeps unfolding every day that God gives us.

Our faith shouldn't be this accessory that we carry around. It should be the passion that drives us forward. It's not a part-time hobby. It's a life-long calling. It leads us in directions that we would never choose to go. It calls us into battles that we would rather avoid. It guides us up mountains and into valleys where everything we know is tested and tried. It is in that constant refining process that we actually learn what faith is.

We can't try to keep our faith in this little box that makes sense to us. We can't pick and choose the parts that are easy or allow us to remain comfortable. We can't avoid the need to change and leave our old darkened ways behind us. We need to be pushed, stretched, tried, tested, heated, forged because it is in those moments that God helps us learn to seek Him as desperately as we seek air and water.

Don't let the hard parts of this journey cause fractures in your reliance upon God. Keep fighting to cling to Jesus in every moment and your relationship with Him will continually grow and deepen just as it should. Our faith cannot become idle, passive, or part-time. It should be the very basis of everything we do. If we're not actively living out our faith then we're missing countless chances to see God in action and learn more about who He is.

Yes, it will feel like a battle some days. It will take everything we have inside and often much more. It will feel long and arduous at times. Our faith will be tested in this life. But if we hold tight to our beliefs and refuse to stop trying to grow in Christ then we will make it through whatever lies ahead. Keep fighting. Keep trying. Keep going. Where God is taking us is definitely worth the journey to get there!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 2016 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Image
Matthew 6:20 NIV Yesterday I posed a very big question: have you ever thought about the vastness of eternity? I'm just afraid that so many people are living for these lives only, and that's going to lead to quite a shock when we reach the end of this leg of the trip only to find that something else really does come next. So I just want to encourage everyone to take today's verse to heart. This is one that my mom likes to quote and share quite often. And it's really a very important lesson that everyone needs to learn and always keep in mind. While we're surrounded by all kinds of messages, things, wants, and desires, we need to always keep our priorities in line. We can't afford to let ourselves become distracted by all the wares that our world offers up. The thing that I think we've fallen for is this idea of value. We're told that all this worldly stuff is highly valuable. Now if that's the case, then we automatically think that having it or going
Read more

Day 2018 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Image
Luke 6:27 NIV I was presented the chance earlier today to experience one of those amazing opportunities to realize that I'd been wrong. You see my family and I had bought some Bibles to send to a couple of people, and we just hadn't gotten around to sending them yet. Since the time that we bought them, we kind of had this weird and unfortunate falling out of sorts with one of them. And I'm embarrassed to admit that it had me second guessing whether or not to send the gift.  Seeing as how this difference of opinion has gone, I had gotten it in my mind that I didn't want to send something to someone only for them to throw it away. But all along, my mom has been there saying no, we need to send it anyway. And today, we finally got them boxed up and sent out. But if anything, I may have ended up getting the biggest gift out of everyone involved. We don't get to decide who is worthy of our kindness. We don't get to pick and choose who we're going to do good thing
Read more

Day 3362 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Image
Matthew 15:8 NIV It seems as though perhaps the distance from our heads to our hearts is, at times at least, much the same as the separation we so often feel between here and hope. For though our lips are geographically close to the hearts which pound inside a craving for more than we can say we need, say we know, yet sadly despite their being so near to our knowing what we need, we find that our mouths and our hearts are existing as if in two foreign places. Because while our heads may hold lips that let on that we know we need Heaven's hope as having come in Christ, our hearts remain among the ultimate deceivers as they lead us daily back into the brink wherein we break away all over again into disbelief as designed inside a heart’s desires kindling fires forsaking that faith which yearns only for a fellowship with He who is everything we could ever need. Indeed, it seems to matter not what our tongues here confess as our hearts head us always into following the path our mouths c
Read more