Transformational Faith
As rare as a pearl of great price.
One of the most difficult things of all is to be grateful in suffering, but for some strange reason this produces something very good — a transformational faith. This is a faith that changes the world.
When someone is pushed to a terrible limit, when the possibility of surrender and despair are real, and yet they decide to thank God for the opportunity to be tested and shine in darkness, something powerful happens.
Just one individual willing to take a stand against an opposing army of scoffers or demons, having a small yet pure mustard seed of faith, will see mountains move and dead people come alive.
Scribes and Pharisees won’t.
I am guilty of believing that my life is insignificant compared with Paul, Peter, King David, Moses, and the rest. I forget that they were flesh and blood just like you and me now. They struggled with the same temptations and doubts. They blew it at times just like we do. However, they did have one thing very much in common. They all humbled themselves before God.
Without worship in the good times, faith will not be evident in the hard times.
Is it wrong to have easy times? Absolutely not! But we shouldn’t waste them. You see, good times will not last. In time, clouds will darken the sun and the winds will blow. They always eventually do. And to me what’s most interesting about all of this is how often I am surprised when it happens.
Something else to keep in mind.
Even in what we might at first think are the easy times, we often suffer.
Don’t believe me? Every time you are sad, understand, this is something you will not experience in heaven, at least not in the way we do right now. Sadness, disappointment, worry, regret, anger, fear – all are a form of suffering. It shouldn’t be, but it is. And it is because we live in a fallen world and are broken ourselves.
Knowing this and yet acknowledging God is good, is a profound act of faith and it enables us to face difficulties with a clear understanding that God is on our side and there is an enemy who wants to take us down. Transformational faith digs in on this point and never doubts the goodness of God, even when the world is falling apart.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation.
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Interesting to think of sadness as a form of suffering...hadn't really thought about it in this way before...