Why Should You Lack Faith?
I like to think that I am not an Ebenezer Scrooge. I know it’s not Christmastime, but bear with me.
In 1 Samuel 7:12, it is recorded that Samuel, the judge over Israel who led them to victory, “took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.”
You see, when we remember the ways in which the Lord has helped us, we not only remember God’s faithfulness, but also encourage ourselves to continue trusting Him in faith.
A huge ‘stone of remembrance’ in my life occurred in our second year of marriage.
Jen and I got married prior to our senior year in college. We lived on campus, had a meal plan, and finished class by 3 in the afternoon. Let’s just say, it wasn’t real life. In our second year of marriage, we moved back to my hometown where I found two jobs totaling 65 hours a week. Jen couldn’t find a full-time teaching position, so she was working at an after-school program 10 hours a week. We were just barely making it when the Lord called me to go back to school and get my Master of Divinity. We didn’t know how that would be possible, but we started praying and making decisions to follow the Lord’s leading.
We asked God for a number of specific things that we felt we needed to survive if I were to quit my jobs and return to school full-time. The Lord went over and above! He gave Jen a teaching job... only 1 person out of 81 applicants to be hired that year! Not only that, but the church we were members at offered me an internship and helped pay for my schooling. Wow!
We set those things up as an Ebenezer—a stone of remembrance—to help us to recall God’s faithfulness and strengthen our faith in His presence and work in our lives.
The question before us today is “Why should I lack faith to allow Christ to live His life through me, when God has given me a measure of faith?” (see Romans 12:3). We are called to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice and to renew our minds (See Romans 12:1-2), but it is the Lord who gives us the faith to do this. He is the one who gives each of us gifts to use for His glory and puts us in His Body, the Church, to live and serve in promotion of the gospel. (See also Romans 12:3-8)
Fast forward to today, I still pinch myself that I get to serve the Lord in this wonderful gospel ministry alongside some of the best people in the world, impacting people in powerful ways on every continent. What a joy and honor!
Yet who am I to do this job?
When I was considering whether or not I should even apply, I questioned my ability. But then I realized I was focusing on myself… my abilities, intelligence, and skills. That’s the wrong focus. Frankly, the Lord’s work and the ministry He desires to accomplish through Freedom in Christ Ministries is beyond me. The good news is that it’s not up to me!
As the apostle Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, ESV)
Our faith (trust) cannot be in our own abilities, skills, and intelligence. Our faith must be in the Lord—who He is, what He can do, and how He gives us wisdom and strength through His word, His Spirit, and the community of the saints we invite to speak into our lives. All of this is for the advancement of the gospel through the ministry to which the Lord has called each of us individually.
As I look back at the Ebenezer stones in my past, my faith is strengthened because I know that God will continue to be faithful to fulfill what He has called me to do.
And He desires to do the same in your life as well. Our confidence is not in ourselves, but in the accomplished work of Christ and His present activity in our lives.
Consider what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:4-6: “Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (NIV)
Dear Saints, it is the Lord who gives you faith, makes you competent, and is faithful to help you as you serve Him (He has given us His very life!). Why should we lack faith to allow Christ to live through us, when God’s word says He has given us a measure of faith to do exactly that very thing?