Fair Weather Faith?

I really love the rain! When it rains I feel like everywhere that the water touches gets a fresh start. I love to stand in the rain, to play in the puddles, to smell the fresh water on the plants, and to hear that sound of water falling from the sky.
But, there are a lot of people who hate the rain! It surprised me to hear this, because when you really enjoy something you don't understand how someone could dislike it. The people who hate rain don't like being wet or cold, they don't like the streets being wet, getting their hair messed up, or the sound of rain hitting the house and streets. Because of this, they are upset when it rains.


I noticed that whenever Christians have an event, they rebuke rain in the name of Jesus, they want perfect, warm, weather! I've even seen people upset with God when it rains on the Church Picnic. "Why would God let it rain on us? This is an important event and we prayed for perfect weather all day! So why do we have to endure the rain!"


You can laugh at that, it is pretty funny after all, yet I look at this as a spiritual principle. Don't we do that in our lives?


When "Rain" or "Storms" come into our lives, we panic! We pray that God would make all hardship just go away! And if it doesn't, if we aren't happy 24/7, we blame God for "not taking care of us" or "not answering prayer!"
A lot of Christians have "Fair Weather Faith" these days.


If you look at birds in the springs and summer, they seem content. They play in the water, have little babies, and live their lives. But once they notice that it is getting cold, they will all fly away from that place to a warmer one. People get upset when their friends are like this. "Fair Weather Friends" who will be with you at parties and go to dinner when you are rich and happy, but when you owe rent on your house or have a family issues that it hurting you, they are suddenly unreachable.


We get so upset at people like this.
"How can you call me your friend if you won't even be with me during the hard times!"
We think that we would never abandon a friend in need! But have we considered that we are like a fickle bird in our faith?


It's easy to be a Christian when you are going to picnics, concerts, and everything in life is as happy as a fairy tale. But that's not the case all the time, is it?


Being a follower of Christ is hard. 


"Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Mans sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in Heaven, for in like manner their fathers did to the Prophets."
Luke 6:22-23


Not only were the disciples during and after Christ's time on Earth persecuted and hated by others, but it has been that way since the days of Noah and the Prophets! Because of our faith our life is hard. Christianity is not a crutch for the weak, it is a commitment and life for the strong. For when we are weak, He makes us strong!


"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
2 Corinthians 12:10


Paul is one of the figures that we all look up to, because he had such an amazing faith. He was not only willing to die for the Gospel, but he was willing to live for the Gospel! 
I think that it is easier to say "I would die for God", especially since most of us think that we will not, but to live through the abuse of others is harder than dying. Never did Christ say that it would be easy to follow him, he said that we would be hated and that we should rejoice in the persecution!


It may sound like a cliche, but it's true, that God doesn't make things easy, but He will help us through it. He won't stop the storms, because He knows when we need them, but he will be our shelter from the storm.


I feel that "Christians" will go to bible study and church, but once something hard happens their faith is shaken and they doubt if God even cares. But we live in a fallen world, and if we don't have an eternal perspective we see things that hurt or are hard as bad or terrible. We fly from our faith as soon as winter comes. 


The thing is that when winter comes in our faith, so to speak, we fly away from the place that we were in. We don't sit in the place that we were until spring comes again, but we try to leave to a "better place". But we miss out on the blessings and the growth and stay in the same place in our maturity because we wouldn't stick out the winter. God isn't asking us to die in the cold, because he is our shelter, but once we leave His shadow and protection things can only get worse for us.


I ask myself, and challenge you to ask the same, "Am I a Fair Weather Christian?"


Do I get mad at God when things are hard, or don't go my way? Do I leave my faith behind when something looks more appealing? Are my beliefs based on my happiness alone, and if I am not happy I leave them?


One of the songs that I sing to remind myself of this is "Have Your Way" by Britt Nicole. Because it is about the hard times, and that we should let God have His way during those times, and not our way.
God does give us blessed times, comfort us, and answer our prayer. But he sees the whole picture and knows what's best for us.


I think that it is important to know that being a Christian is difficult, but so much more rewarding. And when you leave during that hard times, you don't grow and you appreciate the warm times as much. We need to choose joy in all times, and trust God with our lives.


I could go on forever, but I want to make this shorter so that those who read this can pray and consider on their own.


Refining the Faith,
-C.A.M.

Love is... Part 10

Photo Credit: cute-pictures.blogspot

Love is... Always protecting, trusting, hoping, and preserving. 




So, we recently got through Valentines Day, the day that people either think is wonderful or horrible. I don't really agree with the way love is put forward for this, where men are required to give expensive gifts to women to prove that they care for them. Yet, it is a great time to reflect on the true nature of pure love. I focused on dwelling on God's love, it's eternal, unselfish, and unblemished. There's one more part of the Love series after this one, so let's make this a good one! 




Someone who "always protects, always trusts, always hopes, (and) always preserves" sounds like the ideal person! This is the love of God, this is the love that Christ showed us, and this is the love that the Holy Spirit empowers us to be able to show to others. "Agape" is the love in which the one giving it has no conditions and no expectations from loving the other person. This is the word used in Greek when describing God's love. It is pure, not sexual or romantic, and is simply caring for someone, no matter what they do or don't do. This is the love you show to your Enemies, and everyone else, not expecting them to love you back but loving them anyways. It's because of God's Agape that we are able to love Him.
"We love, because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19)


Let's try to just go through each part of this section, one by one. 




"Always Protects" 


To "Always protect" reminds me of a service man or a knight. The Police, EMTs, and Fire Men are there to protect the general public. They put others lives before their own and work hard to keep us safe and alive. They stand by, waiting for us to call on them. They are pretty much the closest thing we have to a superhero, but instead of a "Bat Signal" we call 911. I realize that they are not perfect, we all make mistakes, but they are people who live the life of "Always protect". 
The other thing I think of is a Knight, like the ones from our Childhood books. They fought monsters, fire breathing dragons, and rescued the town and the princess. In the books for the older audience they will probably die fighting. While the people mourn and honor them, they do not care that they died if it was to save another, and the only regret is that they are no longer alive to protect them. Knights of our dream land are "chivalrous", and little boys want to be like them!


At least, they used to. Being blunt here, but this is not a value that we are taught anymore. To open doors, ward off bad guys, and come to the rescue of women is not as important. Little boys like the guns and swords, but a lot of them think that the bad guy is cool! Most start watching MTV at a young age and want to be the "Player' when they grow up. These are the people who wound those around them, emotionally and physically. Men were created stronger to protect women, yet this is being lost. Now, women can also be noble and protect! They protect family and friends. I think that getting the value of protecting others at any cost needs to come back into the trends. 


"Regular" people don't die in battle and fight fires to protect, and this applies to those who do as well. We protect the feelings of others, their emotions. To love and protect people can be interfering when someone is being bullied. When you see someone being hurt, or who is potentially going to get hurt, you jump in and help them and protect them. In "modern times" we are able to do this more than we know. So, let's take a stand and protect those around us. 




"Always Trusts"


This one sounds very difficult to me, and probably to most people. To always trust? God, don't you know how much I have been hurt? How can I possibly trust people? To trust a person is extremely difficult for those of us who has been "burned" in the past. Example? One of the first times I did a "trust fall" they thought it would be funny to drop me on purpose...Onto the hard, rocky ground. I don't like trust falls anymore. But I had to do one recently with my roommates, and although it was hard it taught me a lesson. 


They caught me. Despite what happen years ago, they still caught me. Because we loved each other, and we did not want to see one another fall. To really love a person you need to trust them. Being suspicious, judgmental, or just thinking that they will let you down and have some sort of fault, drives a wedge in any relationship. It's a delicate balance, I think, because you both need to trust people, but do not rely on them to be perfect for you. Knowing a person has faults, and also not distrusting them for those faults. You love through mistakes and know we all make them, but still trust them. 


I know this may all sound confusing, but it's hard to put feelings into words. You also need to be a trustworthy person yourself, someone who is not back-stabbing, or sneaky, or that hides things from people. Trust and be trustable. 




"Always Hopes"


To always hope, in my opinion, is to see the light in every situation. It''s the opposite of despair. You are hopeful for the future, you have hope that things will get better in the most dire of times, and you hope the best for others as well. Love is about showing it to others, but it is also something internal. You always trust people and you always have hope. To be a hopeful, uplifting person draws people to you. Being an optimist makes people around you positive as well. 


When a person is in despair and you can give them hope, that is showing love to them. You make them see that things will get better, you tell them you are praying for them and hope for the best, and you want things to go in their best interests. And, to have hope, you trust God and love Him and believe in the love He has for you. 




"Always Preserves"


We preserve rain forests, trees, animal life, and human lives. We protect them so that we can preserve them. It's keeping something safe so that it is able to grow. Like a nursery for plants, or children for that matter! It is a safe place where they can mature. We should be a safe place that people can go to when they need to heal and can stay when they are tender and growing. This is more of a Maternal or Paternal instinct, when your parents want to keep you safe for your own good so that you can become a responsible and stable adult. 


God, as our Father, shows this aspect, as well as all of them of course. He wants to nurture us and help us grow. We should be this way towards others. Protecting them from harm, and helping them grow. It's shows love and value for a person when you care for their well being and development. 




I think that these are very important for love, and we all have our own definition for the words. This is my opinion on what these mean, and I hope that it can get your mind going on what you think of these. Just remember that God has all of these traits, in their perfect, pure forms, and so does Christ and the Holy Spirit. And every time that The Bible says to love another person, it means all of these things. Love is a deep feeling, and I am excited to be able to wrap this up with next times final word on Love.


For now, let's dwell on these and continue to grow in Agape.  


Refining the Faith, 
-C.A.M.

Radical Pottery Breaking

I know that many people may already know the meaning of this passage, but for those who do not I want to write this. This was a huge revelation for me when I found this out!

"While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me.”

- Mark 14:3-7

In those days women had dowries so that they could be married. This alabaster jar filled with oil was a very costly thing, and is was most likely her dowry. Without this her chances of getting married and having children were very low, yet you see her smashing the jar and anointing Christ. This act was not just her anointing Christ for the crucifixion, it was also this woman devoting her entire life and her future to Christ. This was a radical act of faith!

How often do we give our whole life to Christ? How often do we devote everything we have and our future to him?

Another thing I thought is that she could have easily just dripped a few drops on him and kept the rest for herself, to secure her future. I admit that if I was her I would have done that!

"And the woman opened the jar and took out a few drops and sprinkled them on Jesus."

That is not how it reads! If I was her it may have read that way, but thankfully I was not that woman! It is said that this may have been the woman who had the seven demons cast out of her. Jesus had saved her and forgiven her and in return out of her devotion to him she broke her future and gave every last drop to him. She didn't save any drops, she smashed the jar! These thing ensured that she could not take it back and that it was fully for Christ.

I ask you, as well as myself, are you willing to do that? He has saved us and forgiven us as well! Then why is it we like to keeps drops of our life just in case God does not come through for us? We say we are giving our whole life to him yet we keep something back. It is either a piece of our heart, our faith, our life, our future, etc.

I know that it is so easy for me to keep a little piece of myself back from people, and God as well. I always want to keep a little bit of the "old man" in my life. I like to give it CPR and keep it alive instead of killing it completely. I lay myself on the alter and hand God a rubber knife... I want to commit my time to Him, but then I have days where I would rather have "me time" (sleeping in, reading whatever I want, watching T.V., etc.) then devote that time to Him. I want a relationship, but I have times where I do not feel like talking to Him (and sadly I tend to do this to people as well). The list goes on and on!

I scoop out oil from my jar, my life and my heart, and I slowly empty it on him little by little, so that I always have a little left just in case. Why can't I just smash the jar?! I get so angry with myself, my flesh, and how I want to keep some of myself and how I want to give my life to him but not all the hours of my day. I fear radical faith. I have past wounds that keep me from giving my whole heart to anyone and being completely vulnerable, even to God. This is painful though, I want to give Him everything yet I can't seem to do it!

Can we al do ourself a favor and smash our jars above His head? Can we all tear down the walls in our hearts? Can we devote our entire life to Him? We want to keep that little bit of time and that little bit of stuff and that little bit of money, it is ALL going to be gone someday! And all we will have left is our life with Him and the time and devotion we spend on Him. Will we "waste our life" on Him?

Can we all just say this and try to live it out, with His power only?

Dear God, Beloved, and Comforter,

Take my life. I want to waste it away and give it all to you. Help me to smash the jar of my life and give every last drop of oil to you and your Kingdom. It is so hard God... I cannot do it myself... I need trust Lord! Help me trust you and give you everything! I want no regrets when I stand before your throne. I want to hear you say "well done, good and faithful servant" with everything I am! Give my your grace to do this! Let me become radical in my love and devotion and faith in you.

Love,

Your Child

Anther thing, this jar is going to keep coming back. We need to break it over and over again. As oil builds up we need to pour it out. "I die daily" (1 Corinthians 15:31) that is the mentality we need to have. I pray God will help me to have it more and more, and I pray the same for you.

Let's all smash our jars, because all we need in our future is Him. Let his throne be surrounded by our broken jars and his feet by drenched in the oil of our lives!

Keeping the faith,

C.A.M.

Photo Credit: http://speakin-colors.blogspot.com/2009/11/word-distinction-breaking-things.html