This summer I've been doing Beth Moore's Living Beyond Yourself study on the Fruits of the Spirit. It has been such a blessing ...but also a challenge. Each week I find myself more humbled, more convicted, but also more passionately in love with God and longing to be filled with His Spirit.
Last night I heard Beth talk about faithfulness. The concept of her entire talk was that faith fights. Faith...fights... I wrote it down when she said it. It seemed odd to me at first. I have faith. Faith is clearly the noun in that sentence. God is faithful...again no action from faithful. Translating faith into a verb was an interesting idea. Thanks to DC Talk I am well aware that love is a verb, but I'm not sure I have really seen faith in that way...at least not on purpose. I tend to associate faith with waiting. I have faith that tomorrow will be better, I have faith that God will heal Jimmy, I have faith that my friend will get a job...etc. Faith - I will wait for God to do something and try my best to have a positive attitude about it, right? at least that is how I feel sometimes.
She went on to talk about how faith fights to get us through whatever we are dealing with. Without faith we wouldn't be able to persevere and we'd be stuck trying to find short cuts and never getting to the other side to receive the promises of God's provision and redemption for us. This fighting kind of faith doesn't just get us through the trials but assures us of the promises on the other side. I kind of like this faith that fights.
Faith Fights. It provides lots of good images in my head of mighty angels, an alert and commanding God, people cheering for me to push on. Praise God He is faithful and that I may believe and have a faith that fights.
*I realize that the topic of faith is a lot deeper than what I just wrote about it and there are many ways to conceptualize faith. however, this just seemed to stick with me and I thought I would share.
*PEACE RULES! was also a theme of her's from a few weeks ago. It remains to be my favorite concept...it's just fun to say!
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2 comments:
That's an interesting concept. My first reaction (which means I haven't thought it through yet :D) is that "faith fighting" is really "hope." For it seems the "action" we derive from our faith that, for example, things will get better tomorrow, is the action of "hoping." I dunno. Just a thought!
Good post!
I totally agree.
I think I just tend to lump faith, hope, waiting all together in this "just think positive" box. When this concept just seemed to open my eyes to a lot more purpose for my faith and a lot more action.
I keep picturing that scene in You've Got Mail where they are talking online for the first time and Joe is telling her to "go to the mattresses" like the Godfather. And she decides she has to fight, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" with her fist up and such.
Not that hope isn't an action and doesn't have a lot of meat to it...I just kind of felt like I indeed have a mighty fortress behind me, conquering evil, and I love the idea of faith in a God who will fight with us and for us.
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