But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on the prisoners, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised.
Faith is never easy. It's easy to say, “have faith.” Everything after that is a constant uphill battle.
At least, it is for me.
When one of my weekly sermons doesn't land as I had expected, doubts creep in. Am I speaking the truth? Am I giving true witness? I know that what I write in these weekly missives is what I genuinely believe to be true, but what if I am wrong?
If I'm right, why aren't people flocking to my words?
That is, of course, the absolute wrong gauge to use. Popularity does not make my witness true. If I am genuinely inspired and moved by the Holy Spirit, my witness is true, and my words are true, even if nobody likes them.
If.
The same crisis of faith haunts me when writing All Facts Matter. Am I right? Is my analysis sound? Are my conclusions correct?
At least with All Facts Matter I have the passage of time to reveal the truth to me. If I am looking things properly my work will withstand the test of time, and I like think my work does withstand the test of time.
At the same time it is quite challenging to know if I should stay the course or if I should do things differently.
Nor is the challenge merely one of having less outward success than I want.
I have been censored for speaking my mind.
I have been canceled, and seen various opportunities pulled away from me, even ones involving charity work and ministry, because my words gave someone offense.
I have had people I thought were friends turn on me for my views.
The world exacts a price from all who insist on speaking their truth out loud. Sometimes the price is higher than others, but always the price there, and the world always gets paid.
I pay the price and pray that all will turn out well.
In the end, that's all I can do.
In the end, all I can do is have faith that my work will turn out well, and that I will prosper from it.
In the end, I have little choice but to have faith that there is a reward for my efforts at some point in the future. The other option is to quit, and that is not at all appealing!
Yet doubt persists. Does faith win just because I am still writing? I hope so.
But isn't this a challenge which confronts us all?
One of the writers I follow recently acknowledged that her “spiritual sickness” was that she did not “feel” God's presence the way she believed she should. Is that really spiritual sickness, or simply the same crisis of faith with which I struggle daily?
Is it a spiritual sickness to wonder if we are still called to follow a particular path?
Is it a spiritual sickness to wonder if the price we pay is worth it?
Is it a spiritual sickness to have doubts?
Is it a spiritual sickness to say “I believe, help me my unbelief!”?
This much is certain: no one reaches any destination by straying from the path. The rewards of faith we are taught are great, but we cannot hope to gain those rewards if we abandon faith.
Faith is hard, faith is a daily challenge, yet to give up on faith is to give up on the rewards for faith.
Am I wrong for believing that faith will be rewarded? Scripture teaches that the rewards for faith are beyond measure. To reject the premise that faith is rewarded is to reject Scripture.
That is the choice. I can have faith, or not. I can trust, or not. I can believe, or not.
That is the choice for each of us—have faith, or not.
That choice is also a call for fellowship.
I have doubts. You have doubts. People everywhere have doubts. We have moments of weakness, and moments of even despair. Such moments are part and parcel of our humanity. They are both why we need redeeming and why we are able to be redeemed.
The antidote for weakness is always the encouragement and exhortations of others. We need friends and family—brothers and sisters in Christ—who can steady us when our faith falters, and lift us up when we stumble. Just as the Apostle Paul sought to steady the Hebrew brethren, we should strive to steady each other.
As we are called to faith, as we are called to hope, so, too, are we called to fellowship. We are called to support one another, help one another, encourage one another. We are called to keep one another on the good path and not get lost in the weeds to either side.
My prayer this day is that my faith will always prove stronger than my doubts. My prayer this day is that my hopes will endure despite my doubts. My prayer this day is also that, as others encourage me and support me in my faith, I will be a support to others in theirs, that together faith will triumph in all of us.
My prayer for you this day is that your faith will always prove stronger than your doubts. My prayer for you this day is that your hopes will endure despite your doubts. My prayer for you this day is also that, as others encourage you and support you in your faith, you will be a support to others in theirs, that together faith will triumph in all of us.
Each of us has a choice—have faith, or not.
That choice is also a call for fellowship.
We are called to faith, we are called to hope, and so we are called to fellowship. We are called to support one another, help one another, encourage one another. We are called to keep one another on the good path and not get lost in the weeds to either side.
A challenge for people of your high analytical ability and intelligence is to walk in faith. You want to understand all things in terms of cause and effect, rational consequences, logic and reason. But God truly does work in mysterious ways. His ways are beyond mortal comprehension. If you continue on, trusting that God is working His Plan through you, then it will be so. The key is just to believe. You will accomplish His Devine Will, just because you believe it. (HIS plan, not yours.) It may seem as though years go by without anything to show for your efforts, but progress is happening behind the scenes.
Your writings have brought me back to Christianity, and you have my eternal (and I mean eternal!) gratitude for that. God worked through you, because you persevered in faith, writing without much visible reward. Suppose my faith in God’s plan prevents me from suicide in some depressing future time; suppose I then am in the right time and place to rescue a child from a tragic death; suppose that child - believing himself to have been given a great gift of additional life - grows up determined to make a huge difference in the world - and does so. It all leads back to your continuing your efforts through faith. And there are near-infinite other good possibilities that could be the result of your faithful efforts!
You have very little wonderful gifts in your intelligence, Peter. God WILL use that- because you trust He will! He has been humbling you for years, and I believe there is a grand plan in that. When I started reading your posts, you had clawed your ways out of a dark abyss. I have admired how you have persevered through discipline and faith in God. You will ultimately become so strong, wise, caring and yes, magnificent that God will be able to accomplish great things through you.
“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” - II Corinthians 5:7
God is blessing you in ways that will become apparent in time, Peter. You are loved!