Day 2648 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

John 13:7 NIV

There’s this common misconception about faith where people think that it’s just simple. We expect a life of faith to be easy and always make sense. We go into it expecting some kind of over-night change where we wake up the next morning and everything is perfectly lined out and we can simply coast the rest of our lives and slide right into Heaven unscarred and unscathed. But that’s not at all how any of this works! So if we go into it expecting ease and comfort and understanding, then we’re headed for a seriously rough transition.

One of the biggest things we crave in life is understanding. There's this fear of the uncertain and of things that we can't comprehend that leaves us uneasy and worried and even filled with doubt. Maybe it's a lack of control or a simple realization that there are things happening around us that we may not even notice let alone understand. But whatever the reason, we all prefer things that we can wrap our minds around because if it makes sense then it must be okay because we can maybe keep some feeling of control over our lives.

But then there's faith. So much of what happens when we start off down the road following Christ is completely foreign. It doesn't make sense. It goes against everything we've always known. It requires us to learn new ways of doing things that we'd never done before. His path opens our eyes to seeing things that we used to ignore and tunes our hearts to beat in time with His which causes us to suddenly start noticing things that maybe aren’t as okay as we once believed. And as we grow closer to Him and further from what was always considered normal and therefore comfortable and easy, those feelings of uncertainty and confusion aren’t likely to just vanish.

That's what we've been talking about for a few days. Faith isn't an easy process because it's a kind of learning curve that we've never really had to undergo in any other aspect of life. Surrendering our hearts to Christ does in fact mean laying down everything we knew, everything we had, and even everything we understood because His way is so radically different than the lessons we've learned which form the foundation of all we've ever known. The whole concept of a faith built on surrender and humility is one that turns our society and how it works on its head and forces us to step out of our shell out into the unknown where understanding isn't an immediate part of the deal.

God will lead us through trials that simply don't make sense. We will endure changes and experience emotions that lead us to questioning things that we never thought needed reconsidering. The path of faith leads us away from normal into a world that allows very little room for our need to understand things. We start off from the outside looking in, and that brings this flurry of questions that are all based on our desire to understand how things work so that we know what we’re getting ourselves into.

Why did someone have to die to set me free? Why do I have to get rid of everything I have in order to store up treasure in Heaven? Why do we have to feel the weight of guilt and shame when they seem so miserable? Why does our Savior wash the feet of those who should be serving Him? Why do we need to learn to think differently when the way we've always thought has worked good enough so far? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do the guilty go free? Why does sin continue to flourish? Why is trust and reliably so rare? Why do we have to wait so long for these promises to be fulfilled?

There are so many questions in our faith, but the thing is that we don't need the answers. That's the sticking point that each of us have to get past in this walk. We don't need our questions answered. We don't need to understand everything. We don't need to know the ins and outs, the whys and how comes. We need to learn to trust. Our desire to understand is so that we can continue feeling like we have some control or power over what's going on. But that kind of thinking is only important in the way this world does things. It has no room in a life of faith. A life of faith is one that asks us to let go and trust that God knows the answers, has the reasons, and is doing what He needs to do in order for His perfect will to be done.

That's all we need to know!

The time we waste trying to understand life and the things that are happening in and around us is time that we're missing out on increasing our trust in the work of our Lord. We don't need to understand what He's doing. We just need to believe that it's for our good. We don't need the comfort of having a firm grasp on His plans and how it's all going to work out. We need to learn to find our comfort in knowing that He is faithful, He is loving, and His plans (as confusing or scary or uncertain as they may seem) are always for our good.

The whole point is what Jesus tells us here in John chapter 13. We're not going to understand everything that He does. We're not going to be afforded the benefit of knowing why we're asked to do something. We're not going to have the comfort of knowing the results before the work is even started. All we know is all that we really need to know: That one day we will understand. One day it will make sense. One day we will be able to look back at all those twists and turns and ups and downs and moments of confusion and uncertainty and be able to see why it all had to happen that way.

It's all to lead us closer to Him. It's all to help us learn to think the way He thinks. It's all to pull us out of our comfort zone into a life of complete trust in the unknown and unseen. "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed"! Friends, do not get lost in trying to understand every aspect of faith. It's simply not meant to work that way. If we understood it all then we wouldn't need to trust in Christ. And without the chance to increase our trust in Him, we also couldn't increase our reliance upon Him. And without relying on Him, what purpose does any of this even have?

It is scary to go where nothing makes sense and walk into a life full of uncertainty and things that we can't comprehend right now. Just know that one day it'll all make sense. That's the promise we can rely on when we find ourselves starting to focus a bit too much on our need to understand. If we fight too hard to understand His work in our lives then we're probably going to end up doubting in our faith because that understanding simply isn't always there. So stop setting yourself up to be filled with doubt and disappointment and simply learn to surrender and trust that everything is for a reason. We may not get it now, but one day we will!

#LeaveNoSoulUntold