Miracles involve faith (vision) and work...and discipline

Life can certainly be mysterious sometimes...and just when I think I've figured something out, I realize how very little I know, and how very much I've yet to learn.

Over the past 2 years, I've given a lot of thought to the subject of transformation, and to what it means to live an authentic life as a follower of Christ. In the past 60 days, I went through a period of questioning everything I've ever believed about either, and found myself having to start again...asking hard questions about the beliefs that make up the core of who I am.

It is with a great deal of peace this morning...inexplicable peace, I might add...that I return to the roots of a faith that has served me well these last 40 years, even when I have been faithless. On the subject of faith, I read Hebrews, chapters 11, 12, and 13 last night...

Here are a few of the passages that spoke to me:

For faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for...And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

The mystery of faith is our ability to have confidence in that which we cannot see with our eyes. I readily admit that faith comes more easily to me at some times than at others, but oddly, in this first week after my Mom's passing, the capacity of my confidence seems to have taken a quantum leap...so much so that I hesitate to share it, for fear that friends will think I'm in shock, or have taken leave of my senses. Nevertheless, there has been a shift in my soul and spirit this week, and I would be less than honest if I didn't report the change.

There is a long passage in Hebrews 11 that is sometimes referred to as a "roll call of faith," as it relates the stories of many people whose lives have been characterized by great acts of faith...some who have performed miracles, or had miracles performed on their behalf...and some for whom the miracle did not come in this earthly life. These great exemplars of the Christian faith do not walk the earth any longer, and now, with my Mom in their company, they comprise what Hebrews 12 describes this way:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perserverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God....

Endure hardship as discipline, God is treating you as children. For what child is not disciplined by his father? No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

At the end, I notice that discipline yields happy and pleasant fruit, for those who have been trained by it. The choice before us -- will we fight against the discipline, avoid the discipline...or be trained by the discipline?

As someone I respect has said, "we don't need spooky voodoo." The path to fruitful living is made up of fairly simple truths...a few fundamentals that will, when practiced with consistency and discipline, yield a harvest of fruitful and peaceful living.

Let us run with perserverance the race that is marked out for us!