I’ve always thought that I believed all the claims of Jesus; what we were supposed to look like if we knew Him, the power He would provide us to have peace, feel compassion and how we’d be new and want what He wanted. But each time we take a leap of faith, one that invites us to say yes, we always seem to find it harder to actually walk through it. We keep learning that maybe our belief was maybe just a thought. An idea. Or maybe something we should think. For us, walking through various invitations is what grew roots, deep roots that now give us Him in a more real way. No longer a mere idea, thought or something I should do… But simply a reality worth betting on. We bet on the fact that our fridge will work as we purchase hundreds of dollars of groceries, and we bet our phones will help us reach help if we need it. We bet on truth that our kids will do better on tests if they study, and we know we’ll be warm if we put on a coat.
It didn’t occur to me really until each season of growth in our own understanding of God, especially in the last few years, that maybe we can’t really know what we believe unless we walk it out. Maybe that’s why He tells us in James not to read His word and deceive ourselves, but to do what it says. How long did we deceive ourselves of our belief and then learn during the trials that ‘belief’ had to be revisited, prayed over… and finally coming to our own, “It’s all true!” moment. Many times, Jimmy and I have encountered a newness in our faith that was scary or where our weakness was highlighted. We’d revisit, pray, agree to believe and we’d come back together and say, “It’s all true!” Then we’d be amazed at our surprise, at our dumbfounded awe and awareness that what Jesus claimed He would do in the lives of the disciples were true. True for them and true for all of us.
We’d walk thru life change, a move, a new community, and a new school and trust he’d be faithful and then be able to say, “it’s all true!”
We’d walk thru the reality of the war going on in spiritual places, trust him for provision and rescue, and again say, “It’s all true!”
We’d walk thru the amazement of our willingness to uproot again in hopes of furthering the gospel in a new place… and find truth again in His ability to take our brokenness, our selfishness, our fear and strip away the lies, and bring us into communion with Himself. He has made possibilities out of things we once thought were just too hard.
I keep thinking if we hadn’t done the things we were most afraid of, maybe I would still just be saying I believed… but wouldn’t have had the chance to live out that belief or even be sure. He knows us better than we know ourselves, and in a life that requires Him to show up, the greatest gift of His love, peace and power are a floodgate ready to open up to anyone willing to push through and go in another direction. The world may say one way is most logical and it will always seem that way. But if we’re hoping to live for the reality of eternity, we can live like we believe it’s true and it awaits us. That’s a tangible option! There’s a Kingdom reality awaiting you right here and now because the Creator of the universe has it all figured out. All I need to do is just get really good at following… Because it really is all true.