Faith through the questions.

Matthew 17:20
"I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Move from here to there" and it will move."


When you first become a Christian, you develop something called faith. This can happen gradually, or very quickly, depending on you. If you find it hard to trust people, this process is sometimes more difficult, but happens in time.


Some of my friends have a lot of faith. These are the Christians. But it's the not-yet-Christians that interest me the most. I have a friend called Anthony. He told me that he believes in God because he don't agree with the idea of evolution. He believes it's a much more humane theory that we have a reason for being here, yet does not have a relationship with God... Yet.


I have another friend called Benjamin, who isn't sure what he believes, but likes the idea of Angels. I haven't yet pointed out to him that if Angels are real, so is God, because they had to come from somewhere!

Another of my friends, Colin, doesn't believe in God at all, and thinks that there is far too much suffering in the world for God to exist.


'A man went to a barbers to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about lots of things, ending up on various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists." "Why do you say that?" asked the customer. "Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist.


Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving a God who would allow all of these things." The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.


Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and un-kept. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist."


"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!" "No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."


"Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me." "Exactly!"- affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world." '


If you're reading this, and you're not yet a Christian, just think about it. It will make some sense one day.

Yummy!

O.K. Raise your hand if you own, or have at some point owned a toasted sandwich maker... Most of you? Not surprising, really. They are fairly inexpensive, and nice to have around, aren't they?

Well last year, I was given the gift of tounges on Soul Survivor. I had eagerly desired it, (how very holy of me) but once I had used it once, I just sort of stored it, knowing it was there, but never really finding the time to use it.


Spiritual gifts can be a lot like toasted sandwich makers really. You want it, you get it, you use it, you put in in the cupboard and use it about once a year. Some people get rid of their toasted sandwich makers, as some lose their spiritual gifts. Some don't want it in the first place, because they don't think they will use it, as some people do with their spiritual gifts. Some people don't get a toasted sanwich maker or a spiritual gift because they don't like Toasties, or God.

We have the choice as to whether we use our spiritual gifts or not. We aren't forced to, but how disappointed would you be if you gave somebody a gift, and six months, or even a year later, you saw it lying in a corner, or shoved out of sight into a cupboard, having been used very rarely? It would hurt.

At the same time it is difficult to keep a balance in life. Balancing reading the Bible, praying, evangelism and all the other day-to-day tasks we face.Balancing how much time you spend with friends, and how much time you spend cleaning. Balancing the right food groups, balancing accounts... the list seems endless.

But life shouldn't be this way. We shouldn't be spinning twelve plates on sticks, struggling to keep everything in order. We should give our problems to God. Good has planted a seed, which is your life. Just as plants need sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to grow, we need prayer, the Bible and Witness. Once we give it to God, he will slow everything down, and take hold of the sticks for us, transforming them into one plate which is our life, then hand it back to us when we are ready.

'Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of Earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his Glory and Grace.'

This challenged me yesterday. I was thinking about how busy I always seem to be, even when I don't seem to be doing anything. But when do I find the time to come to God, and look fully at the miracles he has worked in my life? If I'm too busy doing things for the world, of the world, such as household tasks and socialising, something is seriously wrong. Because the most important thing is what happens at the end of all this earthly stuff. Because we don't know when Jesus will return.

He will come like a thief in the night, and as the lightning flashes from the east to the west. Thats pretty quick, and doesn't give us much of a chance to say 'Ooh, hang on a second, I've not paid quite enough time to my glorious Creator lately, maybe I should spend a few minutes praying.' God gave me this life, and it's not mine. I should be giving all I can back to him.