Living From the Beauty of Simple Faith
Simple faith challenges North American Christianity. We read the Word and discover God’s promises, but then rationality questions how they can prove true.
I hear stories of rural Nepalese choosing to follow Jesus and then telling their family and friends about Him. Many of these folks are illiterate. All possess a simple faith. They hear about Christ’s claims, His power, and His promises, and they believe. It’s as easy as that.
I also hear stories of God raising the dead to life in that land, and of poisonous vipers biting bare-footed villagers. The victims ought to die within hours or sometimes minutes, but they survive without medical intervention when they cry to Jesus for help. As if that’s not miraculous enough, the snake’s fang marks disappear.
Simple faith
The simple faith of these men and women challenges my North American Christianity. I read the Word and discover God’s promises, but then my rationality kicks in and questions how these promises can prove true. Maybe they were valid thousands of years ago, but now?
Doubt and fear tempt me to question their reliability when they sound a bit outlandish or take longer to be fulfilled than I would like.
I have to rein in mental arguments and choose to believe even when rationale doesn’t exist. I have to stop making things more complicated than they need be by trying to make sense of them, and I need to accept Jesus’s words at face value.
The New Testament tells of a government official whose son was very sick. The man begged Jesus to come to his home and heal the boy, who was on the verge of death.
Jesus said, “Go back home. Your son will live!” And the man believed what Jesus said and started home. By the time he arrived, the boy was well (John 4:46-54).
I want to be like that government official who turned to Jesus in time of need and believed His promises. What promises come to mind? That He will never leave or forsake me, that He will provide all my needs according to His riches, that He will be my strength and peace and refuge and wisdom. That He will take even the hard places in my life and use them for His glory and my good. That He delights in me and cares about every detail of my life.
I’d love for people to look at my life and say, “Grace believed what Jesus said and acted on it.” I suspect that embracing a simple faith might result in experiencing God in more amazing ways.
How about you?
Your thoughts?
Know you are loved,
Grace
Recently, at the height of selfishness and self-pity, the Lord gave me a nice full picture and reminder of you going over to minister in Nepal…………..I was (very nicely) crushed and broken, and was able to truly enter in to real repentance, and then the Lights came on………trust God, and do Good.
Trust God and do Good was coming to me over and over………trust God, and “do” good………….the “do” is what I have been neglecting. I want to do good to and for others………….
for God is Good.
Grace, thank you for teaching us and for sharing your life with us.
Thanks for sharing this, Marge. This is a wonderful insight. We can trust God, but we need to move into action, too. I keep thinking about how God demonstrated His love toward us even while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). He didn’t just talk about loving us; He did it. Good stuff.