Hope proves man deathless. It is the struggle of the soul, breaking loose from what is perishable, and attesting her eternity… I learn the depth to which I have sunk from the length of the chain let down to up-draw me. I ascertain the mightiness of the ruin by examining the Machinery for restoration.
~ Henry Melvill
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.
~ paul, the Least of The Apostles, in Colossians 1
Oh beloved, it is true. There is for each of us a crisis in our faith. And we may come to a saving knowledge of the One who has so mightily saved us years before it occurs. We believe, and this is good. But there is something within us that still does not know into what we have bought.
Because the problem is that we still believe something that is not true. We believe that Jesus is some sort of a choice to be made. Or that He is someone to Whom we commit our lives. And in thinking we are making some sort of additive or substitutive choice in our lives, we drive ourselves further towards the crisis we all must face.
We go through the first moments of our relationship with Him, thinking that there is some sort of mistake we are going to make that is going to ruin the whole thing. We run under some set of impressions that we have to get everything right, or everything is going to go terribly wrong on Judgement Day.
Our peace is lacking. Our ear is still tuned to condemnation. And we are missing the point completely until the crisis really comes to a head in our lives. Even so, the questions really do scream around and rant in our heads and heart until we are so miserable that we just don’t have any idea what to do.
“Stop child. Put it down.”
He says it, and we hear it. And somehow our lives are getting crazy enough that we reckon we might just chuck this whole “Christianity” thing and go another direction. All of this is just too much work. However, somewhere along the way, we just come to the end of ourselves. Finally though, instead of only hearing something, we begin to actually listen to a very Still Voice filling the yawning emptiness that threatens to overtake our beings.
“I AM enough.”
“I AM your Peace.”
“I AM able.”
“I AM Love.”
“I AM The Way, The Truth, and The Life.”
And something in us breaks. Instead of reckoning ourselves tired and worn out, we reckon we are just going to quit fighting and surrender to the One speaking. But, when we do, something amazing happens.
All along, we had been thinking that this getting saved was about something we needed to do. But now, in the moment of our defeat, we finally see that the victory was, is, and will always be His. We see that this mighty Savior at work within us has already declared that the work needed to do the saving is already done.
Can we see it? He is everything. All of this, is all about Him and His enormous Love rolling out across eternity and smashing our tiny efforts to bits. To think we could have even chosen Him (beyond looking in His direction) and had anything to do with getting drawn out of the pit we were in, is a position beyond foolish… even laughable.
So, beloved, are you in a crisis of faith? Perhaps the question is not about faith. The question is rather in whom we are placing that faith. Are you still holding onto a bit of a hope that you had something to do with yourself getting saved? Are you experiencing the misery of that thought?
Time to let go. Time to let Jesus Christ take His rightful place as Lord and King of your life.
