Monday, February 11, 2013

Challenge

This weekend GJS and I went on a marriage retreat.   The first talk was about defiant faith.  I'm a dyed in the wool rule abider. I want to know what I can and cannot do and stay within those boundaries.  Being defiant in faith is a concept that goes against the grain for me.  It seems like an advanced maneuver for those who already have the faith thing down pat.  I'm still in the shallow part of the faith pool and am not ready to dive in the deep end in this area of spiritual growth.
One of the challenges given was to double your tithe contribution and trust that God will make it work out.  This sounds great.  Have faith and do what you feel called to do and let God handle the details.  The problem I have with this is that God has been showing me something different.  I've been learning that it is best to stay on budget.  Is it really not trusting in God when we stick to the financial plan?  The Bible says a lot on the topic of faith and obedience.  Right now I feel like God is calling me and my family to get out of debt.  Proverbs 22:7 states: "....the borrower is the slave of the lender."  God is not about his children being in bondage to this world.  We are called to be servants, not salves.
So I'll file the "defiant faith" message away for another time.  Which brings me to another concept I heard this weekend, about focusing on what God has to say TO YOU and not getting too caught up in every good word you hear.  Everything from the word of God is good and instructive but not every pearl of wisdom is meant to rock my world right NOW.  I believe God wants me to focus on getting out of debt, remaining faithful in giving, strengthening my marriage and working on perfecting myself.  And I have a long way to go on these things.  Luckily, I don't have to do it on my own strength.  I so often try to better things on my own and I fail miserable.  Only when God is working in me do things change for the better.  But I know that God will have mercy on me and be by my side through it all.  And once we're out of debt, who knows what he'll ask of me next.  God's got some big ideas, boldly asks for some difficult things and promises to get you through the hard times.

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