On Being a Follower of Jesus

Faith That Moves Moutains.5

"If you believe all things to be possible, and leave no room for doubt, what you ask or command will be done. This is why I tell you: whatever it is that you desire, when you pray, believe that you will receive it, and you will."--Jesus

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. 

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on that plan".. 

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.... 

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. 

The second test average was a D! No one was happy. 

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. 

As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. 

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed."  (Author Unknown)

Jesus' words above have been misused or misunderstood by just about anyone who has struggled with issues of faith.  We ask God for a lot of things and often are left scratching our heads as to why we didn't get what we asked for.  The one thing we must learn in our faith-walk is that God is never interested in an intellectual or "theoretical" understanding of His ways.  We must experience and learn what He means from the very core of our being.  That kind of experience only comes through putting His words into practice, much like the kind of "learning" the economics class learned about the outcome of their "theory" of socialism. Often the most rewarding lessons are the most painful.

"It is to the man who is trying to live, to the man who is obedient to the word of the Master, that the word of the Master unfolds itself. When we understand the outside of things, we think we have them: the Lord puts his things in subdefined, suggestive shapes, yielding no satisfactory meaning to the mere intellect, but unfolding themselves to the conscience and heart, to the man himself, in the process of life-effort. According as the new creation, that of reality, advances in him, the man becomes able to understand the words, the symbols, the parables of the Lord. For life, that is, action, is alone the human condition into which the light of the Living can penetrate; life alone can assimilate life, can change food into growth." George MacDonald, A Higher Faith

Ultimately God wants us to believe in Him, not believe in our desires.  To believe that no one, no government institution, group or individual believes and cares for me like Him.  That He is simply and utterly devoted to me regardless of the circumstances.  That the hardest thing for God is to give me what is best, and the hardest thing for me is to accept what is best when what I want is what I want.  What if I desired to not desire anything that I would be ashamed of before God and His universe? 

Learning through practice to ask for the things that have the greatest blessing for me and others is a lifelong journey.  But well worth the effort!