The art of holding on

C.S. Lewis once wrote, "Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods."

We all experience ups and downs in life, and these situations can have a marked impact on our faith. C.S. Lewis challenges us to hold onto the promises of God, despite what our moods may be doing. In theory, this makes a lot of sense, but in reality, I still need a lot of practice to get this right.

This quote also reminds me of the question that Jesus put to his disciples when they were watching many others desert Jesus. 

"From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve." - John 6:66-67

Thoughts: Has there been a time in your faith journey where you have felt like giving up? What helped you to hang on?

Living in grace

D3LM3

Learning to know when to speak.

So, as much as we need to learn the discipline of Silence, we also need to hold in balance the ability to discern when it is the right time to speak. As I quoted yesterday, Ecclesiastes 3 says:

"a time to be silent and a time to speak." (v.7)

I hope that Lent helps me to discern when the right time to speak would actually be! It is so hard to know when this really is, because I am often tempted to speak in the moment. Our world encourages everyone to have an opinion and many people 'speak' their minds without really engaging their brains, which can be disastrous. 

If we look at the example of Jesus, we notice how he remained silent in some crucial moments, but at other times, he was willing to speak with great authority. Here are two examples:

"But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” - Mark 14:61

"The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life." - John 6: 63

Question: Do you have a process that helps you to discern when to speak and when to be silent? How can we get better at learning this discipline?

Living in Grace

D3LM3

How far would you go?

How far would you go to get something or to achieve a goal? 

Thomas a Kempis, who wrote in the 14th Century, made an interesting observation of his peers: 

"For a small reward people will hurry away on a long journey; while for eternal life, many will hardly take a single step." 

Following Jesus is a challenging calling - how far are you willing to go in order to keep your faith?

John 6:67-69

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Is it a Failure?

Who decides if something is a failure or not?
And when do you make that judgement call?
The motivation for this question comes from a few passages in the Bible, but I will use one example today - John 6:66-67 (the Message)

^"After this a lot of his disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with him. Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: “Do you also want to leave?”
Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.”

If we were taking a critical look at Jesus' ministry, just after a lot of his followers decided to leave his group, we would conclude that Jesus' future looked shaky. Being a leader and Messiah means you need people to follow you, so when a large portion of these people decided to bail, well we would assume that Jesus' ministry was on the road to failure! 

However, making the judgement call of a FAIL at this point would be far to premature wouldn't, especially with what we know of the future outcome? Jesus' ministry was not a failure, despite this setback. 

And so, if you are facing a difficult time at the moment and things look like they may be failing, do not be too quick to judge. With God there is always room for a turn around. 

Living in Grace
D3LM3