Happily there is One who is consistent and we can rely on. God, His Son Jesus Christ and His Spirit! The Trinity, the three Persons who are one (a mystery if ever there was)!
He remains the same always, whatever is happening in the world, in our life, at work, at home, in our relationships, in our bodies and minds. Whatever is going on, God is always the same and He never changes.
Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
Okay, so those of you who are Christians will say, "Nice one, way to state the flippin' obvious!".
Those who aren't probably have a number of arguments, questions or issues with that verse and previous statement.
I'm not going to address those here. All I can do is make you aware of discussions I've been a part of, the thoughts and struggles I've had and what I believe God is saying to me. I also believe He says this to all believers. I know there are others out there who grasped this some time ago so go make a coffee or something, flip to another blog because I don't wish to bore you rigid.
Somewhere along the line, the Christian faith was promoted as "come to Jesus and you'll never have another trouble in your life". It's the biggest pile of horsesh*t you are ever likely to hear and please disregard it if you do. It's an outright lie. Jesus never gave sermons on the Mount, or anywhere else for that matter, where He stated that belief in Him and His Father meant an easy life. If anything, He said the opposite!
Matthew 10:22 "all men will hate you because of Me..." Now does that sounds like life will really just become this carefree ride till death and Heaven?
But we somehow struggle with the "it's not fair" child syndrome, even in faith, even when we're cracking on in years and life on this planet should have taught us a few lessons about fairness, or the lack of it.
If I'm honest, there are still times now when I will say to my husband or even a friend the wonderful line of "It's not fair!".
If you've reached adulthood, I'm sure at sometime you have either had the conversation with a child about the concept of fair and unfair or have witnessed such a conversation and, with your life experience to date, you've smiled because you know that child will eventually learn that fair wasn't actually anything to do with that particular query. You know that they will experience, as you have, another person getting the job they felt they should have had, being passed over for promotion again, that that particular person didn't feel the same way they had felt about them and other such examples of "life's unfair".
So how come, when it comes to matters of faith, we can find it so hard to grow up in that regard? Trust me, I am a child when it comes to my faith and not in the heartwarming way that the Bible speaks of when it calls us children of God. I mean the full monty of childish pouting and posturing, "throwing teddy out of the pram"kind of child in respect of faith matters.
A case in point. I have been praying for many years about a situation that has caused me much heartache. This situation is one for which I take responsibility and sadly has steadily got worse with time rather than better. I can't tell you how many tears I've cried over this, how many times I've wished I were dead, wished all kinds of bad things, how my heart has been broken over and over again. I've repented, I've offered forgiveness, I've tried to make amends. I've prayed for strength, for a change of heart for me, for others.
I've begged, pleaded and basically tried to bribe God into giving me what I want, what I believe is the answer to this problem that I managed to set in motion. I've got angry with Him, shouted at Him for His seeming unwillingness to help me. I've even turned my back on Him when I felt that He was ignoring me. I've railed at the lack of an answer, just silence from Him.
Not exactly a testimony to a great faith, is it? But I'm telling it like it is.
So where does maturity come into this, you ask.
Well, think back to the verse at the beginning which states that Jesus is always the same. Jesus said when we saw Him, we saw the Father. So if Jesus is always the same, so is God. What's God like then?
" The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness" Exodus 34:6
" Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Father of Compassion and the God of all Comfort" 2 Cor 1:3
(note here, if everything was meant to be hunky dory after faith, why would God need to be the God of comfort and have compassion?)
"For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations" Ps 100:5
So this is our God. This is just the tip of who He is and the ultimate act of His love for us was this...
"But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" Rom 5:8
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" John 3:16
Now we have a measure of the God who created us and died for us, who loves us. All clear so far? Stay with me, we're getting there.
We have a starting point of who God is, what He's like. Key things to remember here are that He is good, loves us, died for us and that He never changes. See the above verses.
And so to maturity. I have a friend who is going through a tough time. It has caused her much heartache, sorrow and anger and she is by no means out of the woods. In fact, recently, it has seemed as though the darkness has got that much deeper. As we spoke about the difficulties she is facing, we've spoken about faith, about praying for change and believing that God is with us in the midst of our troubles. This incredible woman told me recently that it comes back to believing God is who He says He is, believing His Word, the Bible and not going by our feelings. Like me, she has often felt abandoned because she has no sense of God's Presence but ( can you feel the but) she chooses to believe in God's Word over her feelings. Why? Because that, my friends, is spiritual maturity.
Oh that isn't why she's doing it. My friend hasn't decided that life is sh*tty so "I'll just use this opportunity for some spiritual growing up!". No, it's grim detemination to hold on to God because He is for her in a way that no other person can be. That maturity however will be the result of her determination to believe God and that transient feelings aren't to be believed. Sometimes, and I don't pretend to fully understand it, God asks us to walk in the dark and continue to believe Him, even as we feel His hand slip from our grap. The fact is our feelings are lying. God still has our hand firmly held in His.
The Bible says we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:2). The act of transforming is the gaining of spiritual maturity. It's not necessarily a pleasurable experience but it will serve us in the end as we view God with a clearer understanding rather than the childlike surmise that He is unfair, unloving and unresponsive.
Still more recently, I had the joy of spending time with a friend who has been living the other side of the world for over 10 years and had made an unexpected visit. During our conversation we touched on her recent experiences in her daily faith walk and, surprise - surprise, she feels God is encouraging her to grow in spiritual maturity. For the second time, I was presented with the experiences of a person whom I greatly admire who was struggling with issues which have thrown up a number of extra concerns and cares. Again, prayer has been involved but also conversations, experiences which have all pointed her to the conclusion of the need for a mature faith to deal with these problems. "Keeping short accounts" is part of this walk that she is currently on. As this dear lady pointed out to me, whilst it's great to have encounters with God, see things in the heavenly realms and get words, pictures etc, what will change the world more than anything will be love and a solid faith that weathers all storms. That's what people will notice in the long haul over the more obvious razzamatazz of faith.
So what about me? Where am I in this discussion? I've thought about the temptations, the deep flaws in my character, the battles I have with my emotions, the struggles with recurring sins. I go back to my, as yet, unchanged situation. I've shed more tears recently, stormed and raged, been in despair. I've asked for and received prayer support and encouragement from these two amazing women and, in both instances, I have felt God pointing me towards the need for maturity in Him. To not believe my feelings of hopelessness but to persist in prayer, to not give up when the fickle infant in me wishes to "not play" anymore. That there is more to my experience than just this issue. God is aware of my needs and maybe, right now, whilst I may not like it and may not see it, perhaps my most pressing need is not the one I think it is. God is all-knowing, He sees exactly what I need, the need He has placed at the top of His agenda and how best to address that particular need.
So I'm going to concentrate on God, on who He is. I'm going to look at His character and attributes rather than focus on me and my issues. I won't always be successful. I suspect I will forget frequently but I want to persist. I know that God will honour my efforts if I do this with a willing and open heart. Nothing in this world is as important as knowing who God is, NOTHING!
I want to let God change me from the inside out, develop me into what He has called me to be. It's time to put the milk bottle down and start tackling solids.
It's time to grow up.
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