Testing Our Faith!

Testing Our Faith!
How would you summarize your faith with all that’s going on in our world today? Is it strong one day, weak the next? The book of James provides some practical advice for those whose faith wavers and fluctuates. James says, “Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that person ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:2-8). Friends, when we begin doubting God and His Word, we get blown and tossed about like the surf of the sea. James says a double-minded person is unstable in all his ways and shouldn’t expect to receive from the Lord.
It's easy to have strong faith when seas are smooth, but when seas get rough and difficult circumstances grind on, it’s easy to start doubting God’s promises. But keep in mind doubting and questioning God aren’t necessarily the same thing. To question God is to seek additional information to better understand what God said. Doubting, however, involves believing what WE think, what WE see, what WE hear, and what WE feel rather than what we know God has promised. It’s natural to question God when blindsided or overwhelmed by a distressing turn of events. God understands all of our struggles, and He wants us to come to Him with our pain and confusion. The truth is, He often has to sift our thinking by reminding us of His promises and faithfulness through our past challenges. Friends, even though we may not understand all that God is doing in our world and our lives today, we can rely on what He has revealed: that testing our faith produces endurance and spiritual maturity. It supplies something we lack! When we know that, we can trust the Lord to accomplish His perfect will through life’s storms, and we can rejoice knowing He will see us through it. Trust the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever!
Onward and Upward!
Fr. Greg+

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