HOW’S YOUR “FAITH ATTITUDE?”

Have you ever noticed that we only seem to look at problems and events in our lives from our small, human perspective? I tend to, and am trying to learn not to but to do what it says in Colossians 1:9, “ see things from God’s point of view.” Not an easy thing to “unlearn” worry and fretting and “re-learn” trust! There have been times when I have almost hated that word…it makes me feel guilty! But, it is fact. Learning to trust in the Lord is possibly one of our most difficult tasks in our Christian life. He does NOT see or do things as we do, and His view is the right one. We as adults are so use to our own way of thinking, seeing, and doing all our lives, we DO NOT include God in our thought patterns and decisions, we just go right ahead and do what we want to do. And that’s where our problems come in.

When God wants to enlarge our faith and us as a person, He allows trouble to enter in. It may be the result of a wrong decision, our own or someone else’s, a questionable action or many other things pertaining to our lives. Distress/stress will bring out the “real” us. How we re-act to trouble tells a lot about us…good or bad. God never has led us to believe that the Christian life is a bed of roses…it is not, He likens it to battle and in Ephesians Paul lists pieces of armor we are to use to enable us to defeat the enemy. And…make no mistake about it, the enemy will always be right there to make the most of any difficulty we encounter. And if he can spread doubt and anger in us, directed toward God, he is a happy camper. There are so many things in life that cannot be explained, and so our “human” re-action is anger, discouragement, doubt of God’s goodness and love for us. I have found it takes years of experiences with the Lord’s intentions and how He achieves increased faith and trust in us, years and years. And, each passing month and year should produce a strengthened faith in Him. It does not come upon us overnight, sad to say.  Paul tells us to “endure hardness as a good soldier,” 2 Tim 2:3, and Peter in 1 Pet 4:12 adds “do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial that has come upon you as though something strange has happened.” Both Peter and Paul are speaking to our ATTITUDE toward hardship! It is an attack by the evil one and they want us to think right and understand the appropriateness of the battle we are in. It helps me to remember that Satan’s battle is with God, whom he hates…we are the battlefield. How we handle our difficulties reflects back on what we know of God and His character and the trust we are willing to put in His faithfulness day by day. Not an easy thing, takes lots of practice with various difficulties and trials but we can master it and come out men and women of true faith in the Living God. Remember, each distressful event can strengthen our faith if we look to Him with confidence in His love, mercy and goodness.