Heart of Faith

This week's turn of events brought sadness to the hearts of many as we lost one of our Airmen in my unit due to a car accident. 
I was privileged to have been asked to join with several other ministers in honoring him and his life as he was laid to rest.
His youth and vigor in life, a good and decent man by all accounts - it is tragic; words nearly escape me as I think back to the mourning Airmen, Firefighters, Emergency workers, Friends and Family.

Yet, in all amid tragedy - I saw a glimmer of hope and peace.
Those military members and firefighters who were among the honor guard were staged from the church's nursery area. 
Walking into the nursery, I saw a child sitting on a chair; kneeling in front of him was a soldier belonging to the U.S. Cavalry and a Police Officer from one of towns in the county. 
As the tears flowed from many eyes, I saw these two men begin to shine that young child's shoes.

Now, those shoes didn't really need to be shined; he was a child.
But those two men, whose dear friend had passed, were therapeutically focusing their attention on that young man; who was overjoyed that these two 'heroes' would take the time and show him that he mattered.

And that is exactly what God does in our lives when tragedy strikes; He will show up in ways that we do not expect and teach us once again that we are important to Him, that He loves us and that He has all things in the palm of His hand.

Given the fact that tomorrow is St. Valentine's Day, it is appropriate to speak of our relationship to God in the context of love and marriage.

It may surprise you to know that most marriages in world have absolutely no hint of romantic love whatsoever. Among most people outside of the 'West;' marriages are generally arranged affairs that benefit both families.
And yet, in those societies that have arranged marriages where the couple has little say as to whom they will marry - those societies have a very low divorce rate.

You see, when a couple enter into an arranged marriage, they no longer search the world for the one whom they believe they should marry.
The question of life is not 'who should I marry?'
Instead, the question becomes: 'Given this partner, what kind of marriage can we construct?'

I would recommend a similar approach to a person's relationship with God; especially if that person is struggling in their faith.
When we have difficult times - a heart condition, a tragic death, a disease; when we have these things, we can pour our hearts out to God and demand that He change our circumstance - we can do that, many have.
OR - You and I can accept God exactly as He has revealed Himself and the fact that you, with all your flaws and failures, as a person has been chosen by the hand of God as His child.

Faith is very similar to a pre-arranged marriage; a Christian should pre-commit to God regardless of what is to come.
We should not come to God with a list of demands or expectations; we come to Him and serve Him regardless of what the future brings.
To the Christian, faith should mean that you 'vow' to love Him no matter what; the truth is that God has already made that commitment to His children - His children ought to be willing to make the same commitment to Him.

There are people who believe they 'choose' God; this choice being made among the available options in the world.
Some even have the idea that the relationship is similar to a romantic relationship; God brings them good things in their life, they tithe expecting a return ten-fold in the hopes of God prospering them.
To be sure, given the ministries of televangelists over the last 30 years, why wouldn't millions of people think that this is how it works in God's economy?

Well, whether it is an Airman who passes too soon, a spouse who contracts a horrifying illness, a marriage or a devoted person in the Body of Christ - all of us know from our own experiences that life just doesn't always work out that neatly.

If you were to ask a couple who have been married for years and years - most will admit that they had times when they wanted to give up.
But - that couple made it because they hung on through the years.
And those years turned to decades and today they are clearly the most stable and strong relationships among us.
It is in those rough times that they Biblical statement is made true in our lives - "When we are weak, He is made strong..."

Yet, if you go to a local Christian bookstore you will find few books teaching us to persevere through difficult times for the glory of the Lord in the end.
Instead, you will find books with titles such as, 'How to save your marriage,' 'Raising Good Kids, Jesus' Way,' or 'Experiencing God's Infinite Blessings in Your Life.'

We have bookstores and discipleship courses on 'how to' everything in the spiritual life of a Christian; but the truth is that real faith requires a lot more than a simple problem-solution approach - as does every marriage in turmoil.

I hate to break the news to people but the truth is that no Christian is promised by God that He will solve all of our problems.
Christ was not ushered to the Cross and executed for the minor problems of life we think are so important; no, Christ was placed on the Cross to die for our sin and it is sin that disrupts everything else in our lives.
If you and I take care of the sin problem, the other problems won't go away, but we will be on the right road to solving them in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord never commissioned His followers to remove all the bad and hard things out of the world.
Instead, we are to redeem the bad, renew the hurting and help the transformation God begins in making it something good.
But for something good to come from something bad or tragic, the bad or tragic has to happen.

And that is why I witnessed two grown men focusing their attention on one 7 year-old boy the other night.
The point was not to shine his shoes, the point was to help redeem the hour of pain into a time of hope in the future.

Until next time, win one for the good guys.