Just finished John Ortberg's book Faith & Doubt. Good read. A couple of quotes really stood out to me, among them:
"Doubt is a good servant but a poor master."
"To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is like choosing immobility as a means of transportation." (Quoting Lesslie Newbigin there)
"Jesus never said, 'Believe my arguments.' He said, 'Follow me.'"
"Sometimes one of the biggest obstacles to faith in Jesus is the incompetence, complacency, and arrogance of his followers--followers like me."
While I'm at it, I've also been going through Experience God with our church. It's really promped me to think a lot about the how God moves in the world. And one thought I'd love to explore more is the idea that God will not give us an assignment until we have the character to carry it out. I think we spend a lot of time waiting impatiently for God to move in some spectacular and obvious way when we should instead be concerned with developing the character within ourselves to carry out spectacular and obvious works of God so that He might use us accordingly. What I mean is, I think I am guilty of peeking around at other people other ministries and seeing how God is using them to accomplish mighty deeds that incontrast make it look like my own life and ministry is an exercise in futility. I see the fruit dropping freely from the branches of others and wonder why all I have is empty branches even though I'm trying like crazy to make stuff happen.
I say this now, when it seems, at least to me, like my own life is filled with fruit. I see God moving. I feel God moving in my life and in those around me. I have great stories about good things, GOD things, going on right now in my life and ministry. But I have wandered in the wilderness, and doubtless will again, and I wonder if I'll have the hindsight then to realize that God is there too, working to mold and shape the vessel His hand is on for yet another purpose.
I think my point here is that God is always moving in your life, but you really need to be careful how you evaluate that movement. Otherwise you might be tempted to wonder, as I often have, why God moves so clearly through others, and not through you. Does that make sense? I hope so.
