Start Small…but Start
A journey of any distance begins with the first step. If we’re going to accomplish anything, go anywhere, we need to take that first step. And we have to know where we’re going. You know, set a goal. Olympic athlete wannabes don’t wake up one morning and decide they’re going to try out for the games. Years of focus and discipline are required to even qualify to be considered. Goals, small at the outset and successfully achieved, are what encourage us to set bigger, more aggressive goals. It becomes a cycle: set a goal…reach it…expand it…repeat. This is true in every endeavor worth pursuing. Goal setting keeps us from floundering. Reminds me of a Chuck Berry song from 1965, “No Particular Place to Go.”
The Christian life is like that too. We don’t start out with a faith that is ready and willing to die for the cause of Christ. Consider the disciples. They had spent nearly three years personally involved with Jesus in the flesh. And yet every one of them deserted Him that night in the garden. No, God brings us along by designing trials specifically for us that are not beyond what we can handle, and He also provides the escape route (I Cor. 10:13).
You ever wonder
why God allows trials in the lives of His children? I have. We find the answer in God’s Word. Isaiah writes in 55:11 comparing God’s word to planting seeds, “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” And Paul, from his imprisonment in Rome shackled to his guards, is encouraged to speak God’s word boldly so that the whole praetorian guard has had the gospel preached and even some in Caesar’s household had responded (Phil. 1:13, 4:22). God accomplishes His purposes through our trials. That’s the God side of the answer. James gives us our side of the answer (1:3,4), “…testing of your faith produces endurance…so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Let’s assume that you want your faith to grow so you’re able to stand against the powers, world forces of darkness and spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). How does it happen? Relate it to a journey. It starts with a first step, then another and another. Consistently walking in obedience to the revealed will of God will prepare us for the trials God has designed. When we see God act on our behalf through our faith, we are strengthened for the next. Each trial we endure grows our trust that not only is God able to deliver us (remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego [Daniel 3]) but that He will deliver us. And we can say with Job, “though He slay me, I will hope in Him Job 13:15).”
Wherever you are on your journey,
there’s always a next step. If you’re just starting out, there are two things you must do. First, decide where you’re going (heaven or hell), second, take the first step. If you want to go to heaven but don’t have a map or think that heaven is for “good” people, you need to visit the “steps to salvation” page on this site for directions. Maybe that’ll be your first step. Then keep walking. Hope to see you on the other side.