essays

Do you take your faith for granted? Or is it like a lot of married couples. We have been together so long, we can complete sentences for one another. We can take one another for granted, and at some level, that is good. I can take it for granted that my wife will be faithful to me. I can take it for granted that she won’t bust the budget. I do not even need to check on her credit card purchases. I only look at them to be sure there is no fraud. After 51 years of marriage, there aren’t a lot of surprises, nor should there be.

At the same time, love calls on us to be attentive to one another. And this is where we too often fall down. Sometimes, we just don’t listen when our mate talks to us. Sometimes we just go on doing whatever it is we are doing, and pay attention with half our mind. That isn’t anything to become upset about, but it is wise to do something about it. We sometimes have to tell our loved one outright, "I need you right now for something."

Now I want us to take a step forward from this and to ask if we take our faith for granted in much the same way. As a man and his wife can drive down a highway together and not say anything for an hour, but it is still good to be there together. It may not be needful to speak to God every five minutes, but it is good to know he is there.

There is a problem, though, lurking in the background. We can wend our way through life taking God for granted. Why should I ask him to protect my job for me? I know he will. Why should I ask him to protect my life on this journey? I know he will. It is like a marriage in this way, often, when we ask God, "Will you..." his answer is "Of course." But it is still good to ask, isn’t it?

Wives really would be happier if their husbands were mind readers. They are thrilled when we think of something that needs to be done on our own hook. But wives more often have to ask. On the other hand, God may be a mind reader, but apparently, he still wants us to ask.

But here also lies a paradox. When I come to a crossroads in my life, a decision I have to make, and I have a clear principle in the Bible as to what I ought to do, Is it necessary to ask God to show me what to do? Or do I weary God, asking nonsensical questions? It is possible to weary God, you know. In an encounter with King Ahaz, Isaiah challenged him, "Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also?"

Now God doesn’t get tired, and that is not the sense of the word here. If I come to a point of annoyance where I say, "I am getting weary of this nonsense," you would know what I mean. God doesn’t get tired, but he can become piqued with men. I don’t want that result.

It should not be surprising to learn that God is not impressed with words, especially a lot of words. In old times, it was customary to go up to the Temple to pray – there was even an hour of prayer, and Peter and the other disciples would go there at that time. But even then, there is a caution.

Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words.

Now even between two people who have been married for fifty years, it is possible to have too much to say. Just as it is possible to have too little to say.

Jesus was not impressed by long prayers.

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

Again the analogy with marriage presents itself. Often one partner will know what the other needs before the other one asks. Then Jesus continued with familiar "Lord’s prayer," a model of brevity and simplicity. It is not there for vain repetition, but as an example.

In Solomon’s famous "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven," he includes a caution that there is "a time to keep silence, and a time to speak." It is true in marriage. It is true in the family of God. There is a time to speak and a time to shut up and go do what you know you should do.

I learned this lesson by experience, since I couldn’t learn it otherwise. When I got to the place where I had to leave a church I had served for 17 years, I just didn’t want to make the decision. I prayed long and hard about it. What I really wanted to happen was that the church would fire me so I wouldn’t have to decide. Here is something to think about long and hard. When you want God to decide something for you, what you are really doing is trying to evade the responsibility for the decision. One day, as I was praying that God would show me what to do, the answer came clear. There was no voice, but I suddenly realized that God had shown me all I needed to know – and all that he was going to show me. What he wanted from me was a decision. He wanted me to accept the responsibility for what had to be done.

I knew what I should do. I just didn’t want to carry the burden.

Something like this can happen in a marriage too. We would like to shove responsibility off on our partner. Leadership is good, but there is such a thing as too much leadership, because it dis-empowers the person being led and relieves them of responsibility.

I am digressing, but this is strongly related. I have heard people speak of empowering the membership of the church. The problem with this idea is that it assumes you have power to give. The real challenge is to not dis-empower people, churches, husbands, wives, children. The challenge is not to empower them, but to avoid relieving people of the responsibility that is theirs by right and design.

Sometimes you have to refuse to lead in order to leave the door open for others to lead. You can take one thing for Granted. God will never dis-empower you. He will do very little that relieves you of the responsibility for making decisions and acting on them.

I have the distinct impression that God has a stark aversion to meddling in our affairs. That does not mean he is not interested. It means he is very interested in how we handle the challenge, for God is playing for very high stakes here. He isn’t looking for specimens for his zoo. He isn’t looking for automatons that, while they do as they are told, can’t do anything more. He isn’t looking for slaves, though we may describe ourselves as his bond servants. He is looking for Sons.

You can take this for granted, but that takes us to the other side of this question. We can take God for granted, but do we dare take our faith for granted?

"Let us labor, therefore," said Paul, " to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." He went on to say that the Word of God is powerful and sharp, and that "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." Settled unbelief is the opposite of faith, and it is that rendering of an account that should give us pause.

The great apostle goes on later in the book to urge us to pursue holiness, without which we can’t hope to see God, and warns against failing of the grace of God.

See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: {26} Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.

No, we can’t afford to take our faith for granted. But how do we avoid that? The answer is simplicity itself. We practice our faith. We do the things that a man of faith should do. For example, the Bible says we can eat nearly anything that is called food, but gives us a list of exceptions. We eat the things that are permitted, and we avoid the things that are not. This is a simple way to practice your faith.

Another way we practice our faith is to keep the Sabbath.

If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Returning to God a tenth of whatever he gives you is still is another way you practice your faith.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

There are other ways just as important. Jesus offered three parables about his coming and the judgment of that day. The third of these three is about works of charity. When the son of God returns in all his glory, he divides the nations before him into two camps. To the one he says, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Then he begins to recount the reasons for their reward. "For I was hungry," he said, " and you gave me something to eat." I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was homeless and you gave me shelter. I was in prison and you visited me, I was naked and you clothed me.

When did we do all these things, those on his right hand wondered. He replied, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

So, said Paul, ""As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith" We take care of our own – that is one way we practice our faith – and we let our generosity overflow to those who are not of the faith.

Would you want to take this for granted?

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Or how about this?

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

You wouldn’t want to take that for granted, would you? "Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book" – who practices his faith. Finally, there is this. Something no one in he right mind would ever want to take for granted.

I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.