Daily difference toward desire

I've been on the schedule to teach at the college/young adult group at church for about a month now, my topic? Radical faith.

Yikes.

When we first decided at the leadership meeting that I would teach on this "value" of our group, I was a little surprised. I'm more the target audience of Jesus' loving but exasperated words, "Oh you of little faith." I tend to look at my brother on mission in Congo or my cousin serving in France as the radically faithful...I'm just a little faithful.

God led me to Hebrews 11, the faith hall of fame. Listed out were some of the Old Testament heroes as I call them, with all of the things they accomplished "by faith." As I read through the list and then the continued author's note that he did not have time to tell the reader about all the other people and the things they had accomplished through faith I asked myself how did they get so faithful?

I was reminded of a sermon I had heard several years ago about the relationship between Enoch and Noah (Enoch was Noah's great granddaddy). The speaker pointed out that Enoch walked with God for 300 years and that his walking with God set up a legacy that led to Noah being a righteous man, blameless in his time because Noah walked with God. And it clicked that walking with God for 300 years is radical faith. Radical faith is a daily business, not a once-in-a-lifetime event recorded in the Bible, and not a once or twice-a-week visit to church. It has to be daily connecting with God through prayer, through his word, through singing songs of worship or through using the skills and talents God has given to give him back the honor.

In the story of Noah, he is the only man who is cited as righteous of all the people in the (known) world. That seems like radical faith. And because Noah was connected to God, he lived his life differently. He obeyed. God gave him a task and equipped him for it, and Noah could have gone on doing other things, but instead he obeyed God. Abra(ha)m was called by God to leave everything familiar and go out into the world and live differently than everyone around him. Radical faith is coming face to face with God and being so changed that forever after you live differently. The way you view others is different because God begins to give you his heart for others.

In my life, God has begun to show me that being faithful to him doesn't mean I am going to end up having to do things I hate in order to please him. I am learning that God has given me desires, interests and knowledge in areas that he wants me to serve him. I have a passion for teaching truth. I get to do that daily behind a veil when I teach French, but he has also given me opportunities to teach at Engage. I love speaking French and I have a heart for the French people, less than 2% of whom know Jesus. One week ago I was presented with the opportunity to spend a week in France this summer working with kids from 7-14 and sharing about Jesus. God has taken the things that I am good at and interested in over the course of my life, and as I have sought him out he has given me his heart for people to reach them using the things that I love and the desires I have.

Radical faith is not about being some spiritual giant. Radical faith is daily difference toward desire. Daily seeking God, living differently as he reveals his heart to us and acting on that in the ways that he has aligned our desires with his vision for our lives.

When I spoke on Tuesday, I had to admit that it wasn't a formula, and it wasn't a smooth road. For about 2 months in from October through mid-December I struggled with meeting with God daily. I was mad and hurt and frustrated. Sometimes the daily part of Radical faith gets frustrating. Sometimes living differently becomes a burden. When God is aligning my desires with his vision, sometimes it is painful to see things slip away that are not in line with his plans.

I love how the writer of Hebrews begins chapter 12:

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame,and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Radical faith is challenging, but when we fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, we are encouraged, heartened, revived.