This is Faith (Believing Can Be The Hardest Thing To Do)

Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God.
Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not,
I will stick to my belief that God is love. -Oswald Chambers



In my journey many have wanted to preach and teach and exhort me to the ''deeeeeep thangs of GOD!"

I am always kefuffled by their obsession with the ''deeeeeep thangs of GOD!"

I am just trying to hang on to the idea that God is love, that He has some kind of power and He actually cares about me and the world. It seems to me that that by itself requires a deep, revelational, miraculous gift of faith.

Somehow the search for the deep things leaves me cold because the simple things are plenty hard and mysterious. Isn't it enough that we love others, care for the weak, honour the suffering and continue hoping against despair in a world full of contradictions to our faith?

Shortly after becoming a Christian I worked at a Christian retreat centre and the word of faith crowd that ran it never tired of the ''deeeeeep thangs of GOD!" They had taken it over from an even more committed word of faith bunch that had ran it as a commune. It had been shut down because the leaders had told some diabetics among them that taking their insulin was a sign of unbelief in the healings proclaimed over them. The result, 2 deaths and a police investigation. The new group didn't learn too much from that but at least they never killed anyone. They did, however, have some awfully convoluted ways of justifying their faith in magical chrisitanity. When a wagon load of Mennonite teenagers from another camp in the area were struck by a transport truck and several were killed, the word of faith crowd assumed that some of the young Mennonites must have had some awfully impure thoughts for that to happen, and beside they were hardly Chrsitians at all since they (not being like us) weren't being taught the ''deeeeeep thangs of GOD!" .

I think it is deep enough to love our neighbours as ourself, because it is the only way we can demonstrate that we actually love the God we claim to be so intimately involved with. And if you've ever tried to do it you know how hard it can be.

I still have some resentment towards those who proclaim they are into the deep things when their faith is all spiritual and invisible and does not include concrete and visible expressions of love. Having taken a false cue from Acts they think waiting on tables or helping the handicapped is beneath their apostolic faith. They will put you in a prayer line and factory direct a miracle (that hardly ever comes) but will they actually get dirty on the street or in the homes of people really suffering? For too many that is beneath the dignity of the ''deeeeeep thangs" crowd.


Loving others in real concrete ways is loving God and that is a deep as Jesus asks us to go.

It ain't easy but it is real and it is what is needed to help others believe, hope against despair, that maybe God does love us after all.

LH