A Higher Faith

I spent the weekend with a group of FAC women at the Castle, a Christian retreat center outside of Franklin, Pa. On Monday, I listened to Pastor Phillip’s Sunday’s sermon online – and found that it was from the book of Philippians, which we had also focused on at the Castle.

Paul wrote that “Book of Joy” from a prison in Rome. He had endured a chronic “thorn in the flesh,” frequent beatings and persecutions and perilous adventures, and had ended up imprisoned – again – for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. He didn’t know if he was going to live or die. But his attitude shines through:

“For I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that causes me shame, but that I will always be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past, and that my life will always honor Christ, whether I live or die” (Phil. 1:20 NLT).

“Eager expectation and hope”! How many of us actually face the future with that attitude? More often it’s with clenched teeth, with a resolute determination to “soldier on,” with a nagging fear that we’ll make a fool of ourselves and be a disappointment to God in the process. Or we cover our eyes to avoid dealing with the future at all! But to actually expect that our lives will not bring shame to us, but always honor Christ – now that takes faith in more than ourselves. We could never pull that off, and we know it. It takes faith in God, utter reliance on Him, utter trust in His care and provision.

Most of us don’t have that kind of faith just yet. But we need to hear there is such a thing as Rhonda Gunn sings about here . We need to know that a higher faith is possible in this life, that some, like Paul, have gained it, and they really do face the future with eager expectation and hope.

If we want to join them, we need to let God know we’re yearning for that new level of faith. That by His grace we are willing to apply ourselves to the hard lessons and follow the challenging road that will take us there. His path for each of us will be different. The lessons will be tailored to our specific individual needs and learning styles. But He’ll take us higher if we really want to go… if we really want to see the scenery of the high places and breathe the fresh air and look down from His perspective on the hard places in our lives and feel them finally under our feet, instead of looming over us.

Then we will know what Paul meant when he wrote, “I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency]” (Phil. 4:13 Amp). We’ll know that no matter what comes down the pike, He’s got a firm grip on us. We’ll be sufficient to the challenge - because of Him. Now that’s a higher faith. Do you want to go there?