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(as if there's not already enough people doing this)Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Avoiding miracles
I attended chapel at my daughter's school today. She and a couple of other first graders were responsible for leading the Pledge of Allegiance this morning, so I went in late for work so that I could witness that event. Since it was near the end, there was no way to cut out early after she did her part and head on to work. I had to stay for the entire chapel period. As they began singing, their first song was "Light the Fire." I was taken aback a little at the beauty of listening to a school full of children sing this and other songs. I noticed on one of the later songs there were a lot of hand and body motions involved, and it seemed some of the sixth grade boys were a little too cool to join in on that. I suppose I can understand that - I was pretty cool as a sixth grader, too. But it got me to thinking about a child's faith, and some of the things I've been writing about recently.
My post last Tuesday was primarily commentary on a quote about risk and God's will attributed to Erwin McManus, which I'd found in a book by Spencer Burke. I am also, as I've mentioned, reading a book written by McManus. This past weekend I reached the chapter called "Risk : Live Before You Die, and Vice Versa." McManus discusses the same things which were attributed to him in the quote in Burke's book. Here is a quote to follow up on my previous post:
This paragraph reminds me of the song "Everybody wants to go to heaven", which says "Everybody wants to go to heaven, nobody wants to die." Isn't that the truth? The preference is to reach the destination without having to make the journey. The safe road is the road of choice.
That one line in McManus' quote in particular rings very true to me. "We all want miracles, but we try to avoid needing them." We want to see God act, but are often unwilling to chance anything to see what He will do. It could mean failure, embarrassment, losing a job, financial burdens, giving up something we love, endangering our lives or our families. So we hold onto what comfort and safety we have in this world instead of sacrificing for what may come from the next. It might be that He's waiting on us to take a few steps of faith before He does something that will blow our socks off. But instead we stand still.
Could it be that, by living "safe" lives and avoiding risk, that we are also avoiding miracles? Could it be that we are limiting our opportunities to see God act on our behalf? If we only use the abilities we have that we are confident in, and only take the chances that appear to have the most opportunity for success in our eyes, what might we be missing out on? Maybe instead of putting our faith in Him, we're really only putting our faith in ourselves.
It all comes down to faith. Perhaps how we live, the steps we take, the things we risk, is directly related to our faith. Maybe little risk equals little faith. Paul said in Philippians 4:13 "Christ gives me the strength to face anything." (CEV) Do we really believe it? And if so, do we live like it? If we can truly give up our faith in ourselves, dying to ourselves, then maybe we can be like Lazarus. We can see the hand of God move and really bring us new life.
If only as adults we could continue to have the faith of a child. As the children sang, I was praying that He would do just what they were singing - light the fire, fan the flame, in each one of them - and that they continue to have the childlike faith they now have when they become adults, because it's so much harder then. And that He would also fan the flame in me, because there are days when it feels like it's going out.
My post last Tuesday was primarily commentary on a quote about risk and God's will attributed to Erwin McManus, which I'd found in a book by Spencer Burke. I am also, as I've mentioned, reading a book written by McManus. This past weekend I reached the chapter called "Risk : Live Before You Die, and Vice Versa." McManus discusses the same things which were attributed to him in the quote in Burke's book. Here is a quote to follow up on my previous post:
"When you follow God, He takes you beyond your own capacities, forces you to go beyond your abilities. A part of divine adventure is experiencing the miraculous hand of God as He intervenes in your life. Failure is often the context for miracles. We all want miracles, but we try to avoid needing them. But only sick people need healing, only people who are blind need to see, only people who are deaf need to hear, only people with leprosy need to be cleansed. No one else gets to experience these miracles firsthand. Wouldn't it be great to be Lazarus experiencing the power of God raising you from the dead? Of course, there is a downside. You have to die for this to happen.
This paragraph reminds me of the song "Everybody wants to go to heaven", which says "Everybody wants to go to heaven, nobody wants to die." Isn't that the truth? The preference is to reach the destination without having to make the journey. The safe road is the road of choice.
That one line in McManus' quote in particular rings very true to me. "We all want miracles, but we try to avoid needing them." We want to see God act, but are often unwilling to chance anything to see what He will do. It could mean failure, embarrassment, losing a job, financial burdens, giving up something we love, endangering our lives or our families. So we hold onto what comfort and safety we have in this world instead of sacrificing for what may come from the next. It might be that He's waiting on us to take a few steps of faith before He does something that will blow our socks off. But instead we stand still.
Could it be that, by living "safe" lives and avoiding risk, that we are also avoiding miracles? Could it be that we are limiting our opportunities to see God act on our behalf? If we only use the abilities we have that we are confident in, and only take the chances that appear to have the most opportunity for success in our eyes, what might we be missing out on? Maybe instead of putting our faith in Him, we're really only putting our faith in ourselves.
It all comes down to faith. Perhaps how we live, the steps we take, the things we risk, is directly related to our faith. Maybe little risk equals little faith. Paul said in Philippians 4:13 "Christ gives me the strength to face anything." (CEV) Do we really believe it? And if so, do we live like it? If we can truly give up our faith in ourselves, dying to ourselves, then maybe we can be like Lazarus. We can see the hand of God move and really bring us new life.
If only as adults we could continue to have the faith of a child. As the children sang, I was praying that He would do just what they were singing - light the fire, fan the flame, in each one of them - and that they continue to have the childlike faith they now have when they become adults, because it's so much harder then. And that He would also fan the flame in me, because there are days when it feels like it's going out.
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