"People of Faith"

I realize I am wading in a river too deep, climbing a mountain too high for me.  So bear with me, think me not too foolish, this is only a place for me to come and think, let you in on those thoughts, and if you choose to listen, then perhaps add some thoughts of your own.

The Doctrines of Grace have crushed me, my heart lies broken before God, I am overwhelmed with His Mercy and Love.

Those words are an expression of that which weighs upon my heart, you may understand them, then again you may not.  How does one understand people of faith? What do we mean by "people of faith"?  For the purpose of this writing we will define people of faith solely as those of the Christian faith.  For to us there is only one true faith, you cannot be Christian and believe otherwise.  I know the term is used broadly in society, you hear the question asked, "What faith are you" implying there are others from which one can choose.  So of necessity, in such a writing as this it must be defined.

Even within Christian circles you still hear this phrase, "What faith are you" in reference to denominational preferences within the Church.  These differences abide among us because of our sin and imperfections.  There is still to us only one faith, tho our profession of it differs as a result of the weakness of our understanding.  So you can see, the river truly does run deep when attempting to define people of faith.

As I contemplated this week on this blog posting, my thoughts were following William Tyndale.  So I began to study along the lines of his life.  Last night Julie and I watched again the movie Courageous and FireProof which are excellent movies in my view from a Christian prospective and very well done.  The weight of the stories told in those movies have produced the thoughts you are reading.  I think William Tyndale is still the target, but the arrow will be shot, and aim taken from this prospective, and we will see how the arrow travels as it approaches its target.

The theme, the picture on the movie cover, its reference to FireProof, it reaches out to people of faith, perhaps even a means to bring some people to faith.  To most I would say, the idea of courage, honesty, integrity, family, faithfulness, truth, honor, respect, they all appeal to us in some measure. The depth of that measure and the application of it in our lives determine many things. So where do we begin?  Where else but scripture?  By definition, people of faith must be a people who believe something.  By the definition we are using here, that something must be limited to scripture (Sola scriptura), if you are unfamiliar with that term, go to your favorite search engine and search "the five solae" .  That scripture itself will be limited to that which is found within the Christian Bible as accepted by the Church as inspired and God breathed.  This will define the subject of "People of Faith" as we approach it.

Remember our target will be William Tyndale, and by arriving there, it will be our purpose to gain some clarity of people of faith and their hope in Jesus Christ.

As we follow the arrow down it's path, we will be much like Moses as God hid him in the clift of the rock and covered him with his hand, we will get but only a glimpse of the glory of this great subject.  For those of you who are not familiar with Moses and this event, you will find it in the Christian Bible in Exodus Chapter 33.

Perhaps we can discover some comprehensible thought of an incomprehensible God, thereby, become a part of or increase in a people of faith.

The concept of the Christian God is transcendent, so immense, eternity will not reveal His completeness.  So our attempt here will be but to take small pieces and glimpses of this immensity and examine it as much as it can be with our limitations of mind and language.

For example, in future post you may see titles such as "People of Faith, the father"  People of Faith, the family" etc. as we try to focus for clarity on certain aspects of this subject. As we approach this subject, it will be good to acknowledge that people believe many things. I met a fellow not long ago who took his liberty to share with me his experience of seeing demons.  As we were there in his home he told me how they would run around on the floor and would even let him pet them sometimes.  In case you are wondering, yes he is eligible to vote and he does have a drivers license.

I was in the home of another person not long ago who lived near a cemetery, he told me how they had visitors from time to time, the kind that don't knock on the door.  They would just appear and visit a while and then vanish.  He said they were nice and didn't bother anything so they didn't mind the visits.
O yes, people believe many things, so it is acknowledged here that to those who have not come to faith in Christ may very well view our definition of people of faith along with this category. 

So we are not naive to this, nor do we despair of those questions from those who are of that opinion.  I know the examples above are quite extreme, but other than those strange views they all seemed quite normal and capable of caring on life in general.  So you may be one who sees people of faith as we have defined it and think to yourself, they seem to be such intelligent folks (maybe not), how could they believe such nonsense?  We'll perhaps if that's you, perhaps we can answer to some degree at least that conundrum. Until the next post,

May the Grace of God be to each of you,

David
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From the heart and the home.

The Hands of the Great Potter

Life in Christ!  There's just nothing to compare with our walk with the Lord.  As Christians, we know that any other alternative is really no life at all, but a mere existence in this earth.
 
We have a great Potter that is spoken of throughout the Bible.
Lately it may seem that you've found yourself to be in the clay bowl of the Potter. At times it seems we have to go through that process that takes us down to clay that must be kneaded even before He can put us on the wheel to form and shape His instrument of use.
 At times when the winds of change blow through our lives and His Holy convicting Spirit turns on the search light within our souls, the result may even produce a sense of astonishment at what is revealed.  Yet, the fact that He would even bother to soil His holy hands with clay such as us is in itself a wonder of His great grace. 

How grateful we must be for the Holiness of our Great God.  Without His holiness, we are without hope.  Someone said this week that anymore we have great preaching of the Word in so many areas, however the living in Him is small.  This preaching spoken of here is not just limited to the pulpits of the land either.  Each of us who are in Christ have that place of ministry.  We are all proclaiming something wherever we may find ourselves with the words of our mouths.  So many times, it can be spoken so well, yet, then negated by the demonstration in the life.

Our theology may be sound.  We may bring the house down with such a well prepared word of wisdom.  Thanks be to God for those who labor in the proclamation of His Truth!  Yet, we mustn't forget that even the enemy, Satan, knows theology.  This great truth must be demonstrated in power through the provision of God's Grace.  That day by day, step by step, moment by moment, walk in the Spirit produces the evidence of the life hidden with Christ in God.

May we submit ourselves to the hand of the Great Potter to do with us as He will.  May we never begin to think that "We've got this!" and can strike out on our own in some warped endeavor to represent His Word.   If we seek Him early, we will find Him.  He is everything He said that He would be.  Glory to God in the Highest!


Scripture References:

Isaiah 64:8 "But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand."

Jeremiah 18:6 "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter?  saith the LORD.  Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel."

Romans 9:21 "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?"


In Christ,

Julie