I’m not sure how people my age ever survived childhood. I mean, we rode bikes without helmets, played lawn darts, bathed with Phisohex, and I even sat in my dad’s lap and “drove” the car while he worked the pedals. How could we survive all that?
If you watch the news you know there’s always something new that “may be dangerous.” Watch the news every day and you’ll be afraid to even go outside. Sure we ought to be smart about our safety, but going through life afraid is no way to live.
The same is true in our walk with God. So many of us live in a Christian bubble, and our idea of living dangerously for God is raising our hands shoulder-high in a worship service. We don’t even have the courage to raise them all the way!
God doesn’t call us to live our lives in fear. He calls us to follow him, and sometimes that means getting out of our comfort zone and going where things might be a little scary. God calls us to live a life of adventure; he calls us to live a life of faith.
What is faith? For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to define faith as “complete trust and dependence on God.”
Why does God want our faith to be strong? For one thing, so that we can be more useful to him and make a bigger difference for him in our world. Check out this verse:
2 Thessalonians 1:11 (ESV) – To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power.
Paul is praying that God will make the Thessalonians worthy of their calling as believers and that God will bring to pass every desire that they have to do good and every work they want to do – by faith – for him. If we’re going to do a work for God, it’s going to require two things: his power and our faith. His power is always available, but sometimes our faith isn’t. My usefulness to God is directly proportional to my trust in God, so God wants to grow my faith so that I can be more useful to him.
How will God build our faith? There are lots of ways, but here are a few:
1. Through other believers.
Romans 1:11-12 (ESV) – For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
Romans 15:2 (ESV) – Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
If you want to grow your faith, hang around with people who have strong faith. Watch them as they navigate through life in both good times and bad.
2. Through the Bible
Acts 20:32 (ESV) – And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
The more we read and study the Bible, the more our faith will grow. I’m not just talking about reading it each day so you can check that off of your to-do list. I’m talking about reading it, meditating on it, asking God what he wants to show you. God’s Word is alive, and through it, he will build you up.
3. Through tough times
James 1:2-4 (ESV) – Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
God grows our faith by placing us in situations where we have to exercise it, and nothing tests and exercises our faith like difficulty. The more difficulties we go through, the more we see God work. The more we see God work, the more we learn to trust him. The more we trust him, the more willing we are to step out of our comfort zone and do what it takes to make a difference.
The truth is, too many Christians are leading safe, ordinary lives, and God wants to lead us through a life of adventure! God is on the move, and he wants us on the move with him. Sometimes he asks us to move out in faith whether or not we think we’re ready. That’s an excellent way to grow our faith! As my pastor, Clark Hutchinson used to say, “We don’t develop faith by sitting on our blessed assurances every Sunday.” It’s way past time for believers to get up and get into the game of living by faith. Are you ready?