OK … You’re halfway through with your quest for a greater faith in a God who has blessed many of your sisters and brothers during the hard times of their lives. God has told us in His word to remember. Remember His great deeds and remember His relentless rescue of the human race from its seemingly endless quest for just the opposite … self-destruction.

Note I used the word “self.”

It is that word … that attitude that impedes and derails our “faith quest.” How does it happen?

First, it happens in a way that has plagued humanity from the beginning of time. We want to be in control of our own lives. While that is noble in one sense we take this desire for control too far. We want to control what God has created us to be, even though He sees the entire picture. He knows what is best and where we will function to our fullest. Still, we rebel. We say things like “we can be anything we want to be!” We can try, but we will never be satisfied or fulfilled unless we find that perfect place where God has created us to shine.

Second, we want to control our “stuff.” Again, God has created us with desires, needs and ambitions, all of which are proper in their correct proportion. But we take these desires to the extremes. Paul said that his human nature (he calls it the natural man) led him to do things that dishonor God and fail to do the things that honor God. Whenever we are “led” by our human nature failure is the ultimate result. Paul’s solution, stated several ways in his writings, is that we must remember God has
placed another nature in Christians. That is the divine nature of the Holy Spirit which indwells us. That Spirit communicates with our human spirit and leads us forward. Paul says, focus on the things above … the perfect and right things of God … so that we can be led by God in our choices. When this happens, our “stuff” loses control. Our ambition becomes a desire to be God-driven, not world-driven. Our desire and need becomes focused on what God wants and what Jesus taught us to do. It is only through God’s action and presence that we can become servants of God rather than slaves of our stuff. I have shared with each of you the burden that was lifted from me when I drove out of Mobile, Alabama, bound for the unknown territory of seminary, an inadequate source of income, a town I’d never even seen and a family that depended on me. It was the moment of my life when I was most free. Nothing but God owned me. But I knew I was in good hands, because I remembered. Kim
Hill writes, “When I remember what You’ve done … when I remember the shedding of Your blood … I can’t help but worship You, I can’t help but worship You, I can’t help but worship You, for all You’ve done!”

Finally, there’s another thing we try to control. We desire to control God. In the Garden of Eden the serpent spoke. It said, “If you eat of the forbidden tree your eyes will see and you shall be as God’s.” WOW … to be on par with God and become His equal. Adam and Eve liked the offer, they ate the fruit, and they were banished East of Eden to a life in a world filled with toil, pain and infirmity. What were they thinking? I think you know. They were seeking to control the very almighty. How could they do something so ridiculous? The same way we do it. We try to control God by making deals with Him. “God I’ll follow you if you’ll just let me win the lottery.” And when we win, we no longer think we need God. Or we do it the “old fashioned” way. The pagan people of Biblical times followed many pagan gods like Baal, Molech, Anat and the like. Their ways of controlling their “gods” included human sacrifice, sexual rituals and some ways that might seem strangely familiar to you. The “new age” wave of religion teaches that we can “connect” with God through rituals and practices that are outside of what God’s Word teaches. Let’s remember the origin of such practices as we “quest” for faith in Christ (who is the “author and perfecter of our faith,” Hebrews 12). Non-Biblical ways of seeking God are simply ways of controlling a God who will not be manipulated and/or controlled by people. John Wesley looked into Scripture and found what he called “means of grace.” He uses these means of connecting with God for one simple reason … they were taught to us by Jesus. They include prayer, worship, the Sacraments (baptism and communion), gathering in God’s name with other people of God and serving God through serving God’s people. Wesley would have said that we can observe God’s presence and activity through Scripture (the primary connection through which all other connection is “sifted), Tradition (the story of the Church through history), Experience (God’s activity in the world, consistent with Scripture and edifying to God’s Church) and Reason (we love God with our heart, soul, MIND and strength) [it is notable that Reason can be abused by rationalizing that God acts in certain ways … God’s “acts” in ways described in God’s Word].

In closing let us all remember that Jesus gaveus a command that will, I believe, lead us well in our “Faith Quest.” He said two words that should direct and control us. Those words are “Follow me!” Let’s follow Him well!