Moving Forward: An Essay on the Impossible

It’s been a while since I just straight up told you guys (and gals) what God is doing in my life, so I figured now was a great time to do it as the school year starts to kick up. Ever since touching down on American soil again after a challenging two week trip to Costa Rica at the beginning of July my life has been radically different. I’ve gone from spending little, if any, time daily with God to desperately wanting to find more and more. I’ve been able to wake up early before work and before band and before school to read my Bible and just spend time with him. Then when I get ready to sleep at night I’ve been spending hours at a time just being with Him through Scripture and prayer. While I was in Costa Rica I was challenged by God to start to truly understand just exactly who he is, and I found a great way to do that: reading his story. So I started from the beginning, the very beginning, as in “In the beginning…” and read to the final Amen. I can’t believe that I was capable of that but I’ve seen now more clearly than ever the truth in Christ’s statement "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” in Matthew 19:26. In that past month and a half I read more Scripture than I have most likely in my entire life. My entire view on simply who God is has transformed. When he’s give the title of Redeemer, of Creator, of Father, of Shepherd; I understand just what is meant and it’s so very cool. It was a goal that I admit was unreachable by God by his grace has allowed me to achieve it and in 40 days I finished the entirety of his Word.

Now this is the part of my story where I don’t want you to just call me the super-Christian or right yourself off as someone who couldn’t ever do that. I was on that team not too long ago. I’ve never been able to have consistent devotionals or frankly spend a solid amount of time with God, it has and will continue to be a struggle in my life I can admit that. But all it takes is faith. The difference between belief and faith, to quote Brennan Manning in The Signature of Jesus is this: “faith is not the sum of our beliefs or a way of speaking or a way of thinking; it is a way of living and can be articulated only in a living practice.” It’s one thing to believe that Jesus died for ours sins; It is quite another to have faith that his deliverance will continue to support you to this very day and to act on his grace, not hoard it to ourselves. I would equate our spiritual journey to physical conditioning. When you exercise and train for something, we condition our body, we make it stronger. As our muscles strain and stretch we now have a higher threshold of strength and ability that we would not have had if we didn’t intentionally focus on strengthening that specific muscle. It is just so in our walk with Christ, if we don’t focus on strengthening our relationship with him then we will be left at a standstill, maybe not on the lowest level, but certainly within reach of improvement, and all it takes to grow is the will to know him.

That being mentioned: all of us are at different levels in our walk with the Lord. Some of us might be ready to drop everything and become a missionary to Africa tomorrow, some might just feel comfortable with picking up the bible every other day and reading a chapter or two, and that is okay! God didn’t call us to be perfect; he called us to be in a relationship with him. Like with our everyday friends, the more time we spend with them the more comfortable we are with them and the more we’re willing to sacrifice for them. God wants to take each of us to whatever our next level is; he see’s the potential he has put in all of us and is eager to show us the next step on the ladder. A lot of us (me particularly) might be worried about the future, about what college we’ll go to, about what we’re going to do in life, about whether or not we should do track this year, about who to marry, etc. In Matthew 6:27 Jesus says, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” The answer: none of us. God doesn’t promise to reveal our entire life story before us today, but he does tell us that he will show us where our next step is. Psalm 119:105 says this, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” So take the next step, and have faith that God will guide you on the rest.

As this school year continues to progress I challenge all of us to live out our faith. I want to see our campuses, our workplaces, our churches; filled with the fire of the followers of Christ in action. The next step is this: go to Jesus, ask him what the next step is for you personally. If you don’t feel like he’s answering you, start with what you know is true, go to Scripture and I promise you this; if you read his Word and spend time with him, he will beyond a shadow of a doubt reveal himself to you. This year get to know God, and then you will be able to show his ridiculous love to others. Stand Firm. Feel free to get in contact with me and I’d be glad to help you get started or point you to someone that can. In Christ

-matt