When she arrived she said it felt hot in the room and shortly before she left she mentioned that it felt cold. The strange thing was that although it felt like a different temperature it was actually 18° both times.
When she arrived at the church she had come in from the cold outdoors, the heating was on, the radiators were hot and the temperature was rising. A few hours later as we were leaving, the heating was off, the radiators were cold and the temperature was falling.
You would think that 18° would feel like 18° but under the different circumstances it feels like a different temperature.
I was thinking about this as I walked home (in the cold!) and it reminded me of something:
In our faith, I believe that the direction that we are headed in is more important than where we currently are.
The Pharisees were in a great position to know and follow God, they knew the teachings of the Bible and they had great experience of who God is and yet Jesus criticizes them for their misguided faith. In contrast Jesus met people who didn’t have the Pharisees advantages and even though they knew very little he still commended them for their faith.
Some people appear to have a strong faith but they may be growing cold spiritually.
Some people appear to have a weaker faith but they may be getting warmer spiritually and be growing in their faith and love for God.
Which are you?
If we are honest, there are probably times for all of us when our faith feels cold and God feels distant. If this is true, what do we do about it? We can focus on how long we have been Christians or remind ourselves how much money we give to our church to make us feel better or we can attempt to reignite our passion and love for God?
The key is to spend time with God after all, when someone is amazing and you spend time with them then you can’t help but love them. Often when my faith feels cold it is because I have not focused on talking with God in my everyday life and on reading the Bible and thinking about how to apply what I am reading to my life.
Faith in Jesus isn’t about arriving, it is about journeying with him through life. Let’s travel well and let him lead us in all that we do.
Honest about my faith 