Eyes of faith

Robb Davis is teaching a class for us at the moment, and has brought up some great points about advocacy. When we first began the class, he confessed that for all intents and purposes he often lives as a "functional atheist..." Not an atheist, a functional atheist. Many times, he read his Bible and prayed, but continued to see the world through the lens of unbelief.

This revelation sounds pretty familiar. I don't know how I arrived at this point, but for far too long, I have seen and interpreted events in the world through a hopeless and cynical worldview devoid of Jesus working to bring about redemption. This perspective has been a dead end in my spiritual walk that has inhibited me from seeing how God is at work around me to change what is into what should be. I see an injustice take place or hear about another scandal taking place within the church, and I become depressed instead of realizing how the Lord can and will make everything right in time (Isaiah 59:1).

The other day, I was walking my tried-and-true trail in County Park. Whenever I have a free afternoon and want a local hike, I head to this spot, so it's pretty familiar. I hadn't walked the trail since Winter, though, and Spring had hit. The trees brimmed with leaves that changed the character of the trail, which I could normally see far in advance snaking down the side of the hill. Instead, the leaves hid the course of the trail and I lost my way. I wandered a bit, knowing for certain the route of the trail, but unable to connect my memory with the proper way. Once I found the trail again, I realized that walking in faith with Jesus resembles this experience. Lately, I have seen life from a winter perspective that sees only barren, seemingly-dead branches filling the air, and dried, brown leaves with rough scrub brush covering the cold ground. The Lord, however, who can do anything and is constantly at work in the world, calls me and everyone who claims to follow Jesus to take a different, spring perspective that recognizes that he is able to make dead bones full of life and deserts teem with water. I need to recognize all over again that God's perspective of reality is far different from my own... in fact, the Lord determines what reality is, and I need to see life from this vantage point (Romans 4:17).

Finally, I think that I am rounding a bend in the trail, and finding that I am again learning how to reject cynicism by looking at the dead forest of winter and choosing to look at life through the lens of spring that teems with green buds and plenty of life. I serve a God who can do anything, and I'm again learning to live my life in a way that recognizes this incredible reality.

nm