A Statement of Faith

I sit here on the morning after an historic election in our country. I think about the stress I saw in my youngest daughter two mornings ago as she looked up at me and said, "Mom, if Mr. Obama gets elected does that mean that we cannot tell people about Jesus?" Yesterday afternoon a few minutes before 1:00 my phone rang, it was the school nurse. She was calling to tell me that my youngest daughter was sitting in her office with a tummy ache that she had been struggling with all day. I couldn’t help but wonder as I put her to bed last night if it wasn’t a little bit of worry over the election. Eight year old children aren’t suppose to worry about such things. My ten year old got up yesterday morning asking, "Will we know today Mom?" She went to bed asking, "When will we know Mom?"
I answered Allie’s question on Monday morning. I looked in her little face and I said, "we will always be able to tell people about Jesus, but it is going to start to cost us something."
I am relatively certain that in a couple of hours when my children wake up for school they will be asking, "Mommy, who won?" I am thankful this morning that I can look them in the eyes and say Mr. Obama won the election girls, BUT PRAISE GOD we serve the LORD JESUS and HE IS GOD.
For an hour and a half or so I have been reading my Bible, turning from page to page and reading the Words that have, over and over in the course of my Christian life, comforted my heart. My heart is full this morning and I consider fresh this morning WHO GOD IS. HE is GOD. In thinking about who HE is, I have also been reminded of who we are. My heart wants to sit here and type Psalm after Psalm, but I don’t have the space for I would surely type them all. When the world seems to be turning upside down, our GOD invites us to come and sit with HIM and hear HIS heart toward us.
Because we serve the immutable sovereign creator of the world, we don’t have to wonder what HE thinks about us. We are not left to sit and try to determine of our own accord what will please HIM. HE gave us HIS WORD. HE had it written in the common language of the common people so that we can turn to HIM in uncertain days and know that HE is absolutely certain. HE does NOT change. Because HE does not change we can rest in who HE is. Because HE does not change we can look back through the annals of time and know that HE will take care of HIS people. We can look back through the history of our world and we can rest in the unshakable truth that GOD surrounds HIS people. We can trust that HE never leaves us and HE never forsakes us. In the book of Joshua, GOD told Joshua that he would be successful in direct proportion to his obedience. HE was very clear that Joshua would be fighting from a position of victory, but obedience to what GOD called for was the key to that victory. (Josh. 1:5-9)
The political culture in our day does not determine who GOD is. The political scene that we are looking at will not determine how HE acts and responds to HIS people. If we turn all the way back to Genesis HE has always been clear about how we are to live. We are to follow HIM wholeheartedly. HE spoke to Cain in Genesis 4 and told HIM, "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." As believers this is where we stand today. GOD has clearly spoken and as believers, it is our responsibility to walk in obedience.
What does this look like? JESUS told us that if we loved HIM we would keep HIS commands. HE told us that HE came to serve and if we love HIM we will serve. HE said that if
we would obey HIM, HE would disclose HIMSELF to us. The truth of the matter is simply this: GOD is still GOD today. HE has not changed. We, as believers in JESUS CHRIST, are tasked with being willing to follow HIM wherever that road leads. Make no mistake, being a follower a CHRIST promises heart ache and struggle as we face certain persecution. JESUS said, "if they hated ME they will hate you." Following JESUS will not be a life of ease and leisure. No! Being a follower of JESUS CHRIST is an embracing of difficult days. It will require a willingness to suffer without lashing out at those who would cause that suffering. Recall JESUS on trial. The Bible tells us that JESUS made no reply to HIS accusers. HE didn’t seek to defend HIMSELF. HE was seeking to pay the price for our sin so that we could walk with HIM in relationship. Lashing out at those who do not believe the way we believe will NOT further the cause of CHRIST. We must walk steadfast and immovable and ask the HOLY SPIRIT to flow through us to love and show love to those who will surely mistreat and malign us.
Being one who claims to follow the LORD JESUS will not be an easy road, but JESUS has promised to walk that road with us by the indwelling presence of the HOLY SPIRIT. JESUS said that the road to eternal life was straight and narrow and that few would find it, but that the road to damnation was wide and winding and many would go that way. Today, in 2008 I believe we will begin to see a separation of those who are truly willing to follow JESUS and those who were only looking for fire insurance. JESUS didn’t die on a cross to give us an easy life. HE died on that cross to invite us to walk with HIM the road that HE walked to pay the price that we could never have paid.
Suffering is coming for all who seek to follow JESUS. I believe that with all of my heart. I also believe that in that suffering we, who will choose to follow JESUS, will experience HIS peace and presence in ways that we could never have imagined. How else could Paul have penned the words of Philippians 4:6-9? There is a peace that comes from GOD that will surpass our suffering and it will enable us to run the race with endurance.
In summary, I believe that GOD is GOD. I believe that HE exists and always has and makes no attempt to prove that to us. I believe that HE reached down HIS holy hands into the dirt and fashioned man and breathed HIS very breath into the nostrils of that man. HIS existence is presupposed and all of creation points to a creator. I believe in JESUS, the FATHER’S only SON. I believe HE existed, uncreated before time began. I believe that JESUS wrapped HIMSELF in human flesh and came and dwelt among us. I believe that HE invites us to walk with HIM in relationship that is ONLY possible because HE came and wrapped HIMSELF in human flesh. I believe in the HOLY SPIRIT. I believe that HE indwells all believers at the moment of salvation. I believe that HOLY SPIRIT enables us to walk in a manner that we could otherwise never walk. I believe that the HOLY SPIRIT lives through us and makes us who we could never be. I believe that without JESUS we are hopelessly lost. I believe that once we have JESUS we are hopelessly indebted to HIM and obligated to share HIM with anyone that GOD brings across our path.