heart overflow: where our faith lies

Have I mentioned we have internet?  Look at all these wonderful pictures that I can now start taking again because I can SHARE them again!  

Today was a great day at Saccanville Church with Pam S., Craig and Deb T. and Leroy L., who had the opportunity to preach.  It's always a joy to worship with our neighborhood brothers and sisters...Roselore and Pehpay, Abel and Magloire, Noel and Abdian. 

Tomorrow first and second year start on Systematic Theology together due to our first year prof. cancellation, and third and fourth year start their Christian Marriage and Family course.  

A Sabetha friend emailed a few days ago regarding our recent posts on faith, and asked how we can measure where we're putting our faith, and how we can know if we're putting our faith in God, or in His promises and blessings and calling. 

I talked to a few of our brains, and thought it through quite a bit myself, and this is what I think I think.

I think our hearts and true beliefs come out the most truthfully in heartbreak, stress, challenges, injustice, frustrations, hurt...the ugly stuff. It tends to bring out the truth. 

So when I'm in trouble, when I'm stressed, when things don't go my way, when I'm hurt or wronged or angered--where do I run?  What do I dive into?  What is my reaction?

Is it Christ?  Or is it something else?

If I'm not running first to God in trouble, pain, frustrations and problems, then whatever I'm running to, that's where my faith is.  That's my idol.

Since I believe God can use our ugly situations, I'll give an example from my own life.  Like, tonight.

Everything was good. We were all talking, all was fine, and out of nowhere, Matt said something that he meant absolutely nothing by with absolutely no intention of harm in a context he had just walked into.  And yet, an issue I thought I had entirely given to the Lord suddenly leapt at my pride with his comment and I was wilted...publicly humiliated, in my mind.  Doubt jumped out of nowhere, and the issue with which He had given me His perfect peace crumbled to despair, blame and hurt, even anger. 

Instead of saying to the Lord "God, you've met me on this.  You've promised and provided and peace-ened.  Now I feel threatened and the temptation to doubt.  Help me.  I trust you.", I lashed out, hurt, angry, defensive...and unkind.

I thought I had trusted in the Lord.  I thought I had placed my faith in HIM on this issue.  I'd heard His voice and felt His hand and received His peace.  But in a moment of turmoil, of insult, it was gone.  

My faith hadn't been truly rested in Him after all, because the moment that I had the opportunity to PROVE my faith, I abandoned ship and jumped to my own reaction.

 When our blessings or gifts or calling or ministry or efforts or self are threatened, how do we respond?  How do we respond when we're feeling led to do or act in a way that we REALLY don't want to?  When someone really messed stuff up for us?  When we'd really rather be mad?  When we suffer a complete injustice?  

With things of Him-- Peace?  Love?  Kindness?  Self-Control?  

Or with things of the world--Anger?  Bitterness?  Rudeness?  Fear?  Accusations?  Emotions?

When our faith is firmly planted in Him, our fears, our injustices, our frustrations, our hurts, our insecurities--and even our hopes and dreams and desires--will be entirely subdued by God...Entirely overpowered by Him in our speech, our hearts, our lives, our reactions.

Oh man, is that what I want!  To be entirely overpowered and subdued by Him, nestled unwaveringly in that mustard seed of faith I have in Him and in Him alone.

Our friend Brett used to tell this story about a speaker who asked a man to come up on stage with him, and handed him a cup filled with water.  The speaker then shook the man's hands, and water sloshed all over them both and onto the stage.

"Why," asked the speaker, "Did water just spill everywhere?"

"Well," sputtered the man, "Because YOU shook my hands!"

"No," said the speaker.  "Water just spilled everywhere because there was water in the cup."

Think and pray with me today about what is in our cups...and what therefore will come out: NOT because life or others shake us up, but because of what was IN our cup, to start with.

I want FAITH to slosh out of mine, everywhere, by His grace.  

"For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks."

Luke 6:45