We all have faith in something. When you sit down in a chair, do you examine it first to see if it’s sturdy enough to hold you or do you just sit down with faith that it’ll do what it’s supposed to do? Do you take the medicine you got at the pharmacy having faith that the prescription was filled properly? When you get in the car and expect it to start when you turn the key? Faith that it will start as expected.
As I mentioned in my last post, our sermon was on Jesus Calms the Storm.
22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, ”Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.
24 The disciples went and woke him saying, ”Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”
Luke 8:22-24
These men in the boat with Jesus were fishermen. That’s what they did for a living. They would be familiar with storms. Dealing with them must have been a way of life for them. So, this must have been the storm of all storms!
What did they want Jesus to do? They didn’t expect him to quiet the storm. They were a bit upset at his indifference. How could he sleep at a time like this!
24 He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. 25 Where is you faith? he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, ”Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”
Luke 8:24-25
You see, many Christians live with mild faith because they have an inadequate or imprecise view of faith. Faith is essential. Impossible to live without. It’s woven into our system.
You don’t learn faith from a lecture or a sermon. You learn it in life.
We are wired for a certain response when we’re in danger. It’s called the fight or flight response. Our body prepares for action! Adrenalin is released, muscles become tense, blood pressure and respiration increase, heart rate increases, pupils dilate. This is not how we intend to react, it’s how we’re wired.
”Where is your faith,” he asks? Our pastor doesn’t take Jesus’ question as being critical of them. He’s simply asking them where they are placing their faith. Is it in the boat, the storm or in Jesus?
Faith depends upon the object of what you’re placing your faith in.
You can have little faith on thick ice and survive or great faith on thin ice and get wet. It’s not the amount of faith, it’s where it’s placed.
Little faith in a small God shows little knowledge of a big God.
Get to know God and your faith will grow. I’ve seen it in my own life. The more I know God, the more I want to know!
Two things that most of us know…the Cross and that Jesus is coming back. In the past he died on the cross. In the future…He’s coming back. But what about the in between? Are we growing in the in between to get to know more about him?
Faith is not an absence of problems.
We’re not guaranteed there will be no problems. We’re told that we will have troubles on this earth. God allows storms in our lives because faith isn’t developed in calm times. It’s developed in the storms. The outcome is dependent on what you choose to hold onto.
Sometimes faith doesn’t seem to be enough, but that’s because of the things we hold onto…fear, unforgiveness, doubt, worry.
What if Jesus’ words, ”Where is your faith,” was said as an invitation instead of an accusation. An invitation to reflect on what it’s like to be alive on the other side of the situation that we thought would kill us!
The storm may be loss, addiction, anxiety…
In the midst of the worst of our life, where was God? What do you see when you look at your storms?
- The ultimate issue is not that you have problems.
- It’s whether you know anyone that can do anything about them. Where is your focus when the storms come?
- Where are you placing your faith?
Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.”
-Anne Lamont
- We have to get to the point where we can trust God in the moment and not just in retrospect.
- Maybe things will work out, maybe they won’t.
- But we can either have a sense of God’s love during the whole thing, or be so freaked out we forget it’s there.
- The storm will not last forever…
- But I can’t tell you the boat won’t sink.
- But the more we know of Jesus…the less we cry out…
- ”Who is this that even the wind and waves obey him?”
This blog post is my take on our sermon at Milan Christian Church on 3/20/22 by our pastor, Jon Porter. If you are in the storm of your life…turn to God and find out what this faith thing is all about! Sunday mornings at 719 E Carr St., Milan, IN. See you there…10:30. You are welcome!
In Faith,
Pam
Where God Leads 