Day 2867 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Matthew 14:30 NIV

An interrupted faith.

It’s sadly something that each of us have experienced at one time or another. Whether it be in a situation like Peter who was suddenly overwhelmed with the fact that he too was walking on water beyond the safe confines of the boat he just stepped out of, or simply another miserable day where everything you tried seemed to add up to nothing, all of us have had times in life when life itself and the circumstances in which we sometimes find ourselves cause us to take our eyes off of the One leading us down this incredibly skinny street.

But oddly enough, as it’s something that we never really stop to think about, it’s amazing how fragile our focus really is. Now, we don’t tend to notice it because we manage to keep our lives busy enough that we don’t need to worry about it all that much. When we’ve a million different things going on at any given moment, completely focusing on any individual task or responsibility or opportunity simply isn’t something we even consider. So we don’t usually give much if any thought to our ability to focus solely on one thing, as it’s just not something that normally have to do.

But, just because we don’t normally focus that intently on any given thought or idea, that doesn’t mean that we should allow ourselves to become unable to do so. Because, like it not, used to it not, ready or not, there will come a time when our ability to focus solely on Christ will be deadly crucial.

You see, I don’t think we enjoy thinking about things like that. For the most part, we like to just stick to what we’re comfortable with and live in this peaceful assumption that life as we know it will continue to remain largely the same for the foreseeable future. Problem with that assumption is that it’s only comfortable because it doesn’t really require anything from us. It doesn’t take any extra effort to handle what we’re already handling. It doesn’t force us to focus harder when we’ve already found a way to stay on top of everything we’ve got going on.

But, what will we do when the winds of chaos start picking up? What will we do when the seas begin jostling a little more violently than they are now? What will we do when the ground starts shaking, walls start falling, and we see the Son of God piercing the sky to come and finish His war against sin? What will we do when Jesus looks us in the eye and calls us to step out of the boat that we’ve built our idea of normal within onto the completely impossible seas of faith where He stands?

I think we’re all much like Peter in this instance. He saw Jesus walking on the water and said, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” We think we’re ready. We assume that we’ve got this. We sit around and build ourselves up into these invincible warriors of faith who are ready to take on a horde of any number who come against our Savior. We talk a mighty impressive game as we sit on the bench assuming we’re ready to do whatever we’re called to do. But when we suddenly have to do it, we find it’s indescribably harder than we ever imagined.

All of the sudden, the waves that we were certain we could conquer begin swallowing us. The strength we were sure we had fails when tested beyond what we’re accustomed to enduring. The courage that told us we could do anything gives way to the doubts we often pretend aren’t there. And before you know it, our focus drifts away from Christ back to the realization that we’re doing something impossible, and our human minds suddenly begin scrambling to make it all make sense.

What we need to understand is that this road we’re on will not make sense. Christ is leading us in a direction we’ve never gone. He’s calling us to do things we don’t yet know how to do. He is preparing us for a war we couldn’t possibly begin to imagine against an enemy we can’t see, yet have oddly enough seen as a friend for a large portion of our lives. We are drawing ever closer to the culmination of a promise that has, in our minds, existed largely within the pages of a book on a shelf.

To us, faith is prayer. It’s studying Scripture. It’s trying our best to be our best with the assurance that He will make up for the times when we fail miserably to be anything anywhere close to good, let alone what could be considered our best.

But if we’re not seeking ways in which we can go further than just some feeble words we hope sound right and a few pages flipped through every once in a while, we’ll likely find ourselves much like Peter, sinking when the reality of the power of our faith is suddenly too much to comprehend.

Personally speaking, this past month or so has shown me rather dramatically just how ill-prepared I really am for what’s coming. I have found myself so distracted that I literally feel as though I can’t put two thoughts together in a row that seem to match. I’ve had so many thoughts and ideas and foolish ‘priorities’ spring up recently that I could almost feel my faith slipping away. It seems odd to admit that, but the truth is never something from which we should run.

To be perfectly honest, I’m thoroughly ashamed of the lack of attention and importance that I’ve placed on my faith in recent weeks. Blame it on trying to find last-minute gifts or worrying about things that other people are doing that have forced me into making choices I didn’t feel the need to even consider, whatever the case, it has shown me just how fast the winds of life can pick up and just how quickly our faith begins to give way to our doubts, our dreams, our plans, our preferences, our fears.

I think the issue is that we’re trying to learn all this truth about our faith while still in a world that we have to live in. It’s this weird combination of mixing our day-to-day existence here with the hope of a home still to come. It’s trying to hold onto everything we’re called to do, trying to do, wanting to do in this place while still reaching for the promise of a joy that never ends.

My point is that we’re not as ready as we think we are. When life is good, yeah, we can manage. Even when sudden issues arise, we can usually figure them out just enough to get through them. But friends, days are coming when all that’s normal is nothing but a rapidly fading memory that simply doesn’t matter anymore. We’ve been told of an impending end to this world and our lives in it, and if we’re to be perfectly honest, how could we be sure we’re ready? How can we be confident that we can withstand whatever is coming when we have no idea what is coming but only an assurance that it will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen, felt, or experienced before?

The need for our complete focus upon Christ alone grows more crucial with every passing day. Our need to be able to shut off everything else that’s swirling around us is growing more crucial with every passing day. Because there will come a time when Christ calls us too out of this boat we’ve long found comfort in and asks us to put our faith into action. He will call us to do things that we have no idea how to do, which can only be done by leaning on Him and trusting in His provision. If our faith isn’t even strong enough to stay focused because of holiday sales and power outages and apartment floods and rush hour traffic, then what do we think we’ll do when He asks us to actually do something impossible?

It’s truly amazing the things we give room in our minds. For me recently, it’s been what to hang on my wall and making sure I got my family the right Christmas gifts. It’s been frustration over water lines breaking and the internet being out. It’s been an anger over not being able to stick to my normal routine. It’s not feeling quite well. It’s not sleeping all that great. It’s all of this monumentally petty nonsense that has comprised the vast majority of my thoughts and my time. And yet I’ve wondered why my faith has felt so distant.

When we allow ourselves to focus on anything but Christ, we’re gonna sink. We’re gonna sink in this sea of endless distractions built on luring us into this idea that there’s something here we need to find, to have, to solve, to fix, to understand. We’re going to sink because we can only stay above the surface of life if we keep our eyes are fixed on Christ alone. And so when all this other stuff becomes important enough that we actually spend time thinking about it, worrying about it, chasing after it, our faith will suffer.

Friends, there’s been this inescapable thought in the farthest recesses of my mind of late that just keeps telling me that if we could only see what’s coming and what our faith is capable of doing, and just how important the blending of those two realities will soon become, we’d find every reason possible to build our faith and focus on Christ and find our strength and hope in Him. But so many times we get stuck feeling as though this list of things to do and figure out demands some of our attention. And thus we find ourselves in this middle ground of being caught between here and Him.

We don’t know when things are going to change. We don’t know when the winds will pick up and the normally calm surface below will begin to boil under our feet. We don’t know what’s coming or when it’s coming, but we do know that something drastically different is coming. And we’ve been promised that only our faith can see us through it. And only the path paved by The Way can lead us home. Can we focus hard enough to make sure we stay on that narrow path when we can’t see because of the storm blowing up around us?

So many things want to take our attention off of Christ, and sadly enough, we play right along. We look to the things we need to get done. We look at the problems we need to fix. We look at the routines we’re used to faithfully serving. We look to the life we’re used to living. But friends, one day life as we know it will be gone and all we’ll have left to find our refuge in won’t be a routine or some sense of normal that we hope returns. All we’ll have to take refuge in is our ability to focus on Christ. And if we never took the time to practice that, then we’ll surely find ourselves struggling.

Whatever we think matters, probably doesn’t. Whatever worldly priorities we have, we shouldn’t. Whatever comfort we’re used to having, lose it. We can’t afford to be caught off guard when He returns, and like it or not, He is coming back at a time no one knows. Safe to say that we should make our faith our sole focus this very moment, because come this afternoon, everything could be eternally different.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold