The Way of Faith E-Book

T.W.S. Hunt

• Herausgeber: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Seitenzahl: 133

Beschreibung

"Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God." John 17:3 NIV This 40-day devotional is a profound exploration and perceptive explanation for the true and often misunderstood nature of faith. T.W.S. Hunt explores the various stages and settings, as well as tensions and tussles, in which faith must survive—but can also thrive. He shows that however far away we might feel from God, our continued faithfulness can allow God to feel that much closer to us. Written with exquisite style and extraordinary insight, this compact collection of forty meditations promises to be both revolutionary and revelatory. For it contemplates the ways in which our relationship with God is best measured, not by how close we feel to God, but how close God feels to us. Turn every aspect of your life—from hardship and happiness to your occupation and recreation—upward and outward, both in faith and in love.

Leseprobe

BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC

Racine, Wisconsin, USA

BroadStreetPublishing.com

THE WAY OF FAITH: Allowing God to Experience Us

Copyright © 2017 T. W. S. Hunt

ISBN-13: 978-1-4245-5429-4 (hardcover)

ISBN-13: 978-1-4245-5430-0 (e-book)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright © 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press. Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Stock or custom editions of BroadStreet Publishing titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, ministry, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].

Cover design by Chris Garborg at garborgdesign.com

Typesetting by Katherine Lloyd at theDESKonline.com

Printed in China

17 18 19 20 21 5 4 3 2 1

To David John Parker,who wanders along the way with me.

And for those who have served as way-finders:Peter and Joanne, Cristin, Dave, Calvin, Penny,Don, Brian, Sarah, and Paul

Contents

S

EEKING

S

PIRITUAL

S

PRING

N

OTE TO THE

R

EADER

1

THE LONG WINTER

2

TO HAVE FAITH, BE FAITHFUL

3

FAITH AFTER FAILURE

4

CAN A DESERT BLOOM?

5

BEYOND ME

6

TRUE FAITH IS A COSTLY FREEDOM

7

FAITH SPEAKS THROUGH PRAYER

8

FURTHER, MY GOD, FROM THEE

9

HEALTHY HABITS, PART 1

10

HEALTHY HABITS, PART 2

11

HEALTHY HABITS, PART 3

12

GOD GIVE ME

13

THE WHIRLWIND, PART 1

14

THE WHIRLWIND, PART 2

15

PRAYING WITH FAITH

16

KEEPING FAITH WITH THE FAITHFUL

17

NO PAIN, NO GAIN

18

TO GROW OR NOT TO GROW?

19

FULL-TIME FAITHFULNESS

20

FAITH FROM A BOOK

21

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

22

FAITH AND FINANCES

23

WHERE’S THE GRATITUDE?

24

WHEN YOU’RE SIXTY-FOUR

25

LOSING FAITH, PART 1

26

LOSING FAITH, PART 2

27

SIGNS WON’T SAVE US

28

THE DARK FORCES

29

CAVIAR AND THE CROSS

30

THE WAY OF WISDOM

31

YES, THIS WILL BE ON THE TEST

32

FAITH FOR RICHES, FAITH FOR RUIN

33

WHAT IS FAITH?

34

HOW TO TELL THE TIME

35

FAITHFUL WITH LITTLE, FAITHFUL WITH MUCH

36

THE LORD’S PRAYER

37

CONTEMPLATION LOWS

38

DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT

39

TO GET AND TO GIVE

40

NOT EXPERIENCING GOD

C

ONCLUSION

T

HE

W

AY OF

F

AITH

: A R

EADING

L

IST

A

CKNOWLEDGMENTS

N

OTES

A

BOUT THE

A

UTHOR

E

XCERPT FROM

W

INTER WITH

G

OD

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.”

—Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken

Seeking Spiritual Spring

We know [God] in so far as we become aware of

ourselves as known through and through by him.

—Thomas Merton, Contemplative Prayer1

The Way of Faith is about ways of being faithful to God, and the ways in which God is faithful to us. But this book promotes the idea that faith is what allows God to experience us, rather than promising that faith shall enable us to experience God. It also maintains that the most important part of our personal relationship with God is not the extent to which we know God, but the extent to which God knows us. That is, God’s knowledge of us in the sense of intimacy and not information, and relationship rather than rationality.

And it is with that in mind that The Way of Faith explores the various stages and settings, as well as tensions and tussles, in which faith must survive—but can also thrive. All the while making the case—sometimes explicitly but more often implicitly—that however far away we might feel from God, our continued faithfulness can allow God to feel that much closer to us.

The topics in this book vary as much as its sources. In these chapters you’ll encounter thinkers both ancient and modern, ranging from Lucretius and St. Augustine to Søren Kierkegaard and Annie Dillard. You’ll also read about everything from bereavement and benevolence to theology and time management. But it does not matter if you’ve read a lot or a little, if you have great faith or hardly any, or whether you belong to one church or to another (or to no church at all). This book was written for anyone with an open mind and an open heart.

Regarding the book itself, you will note that there is some springtime imagery sprinkled throughout the text. This is partly due to the fact that this book was composed in spring, and partly because The Way of Faith—in my mind—is an unofficial and partial sequel to my previous book, Winter with God. For where the latter did not presuppose an interest in discipleship, and therefore had to make a continual case for it, the former presupposes it so much as to not make any further mention of it: going from a kind of winter to spring.

My prayer for you is that the way of faith shall become a way of life. That things like faith, hope, and love, which, as Frederick Buechner said, “as words are so worn out,” will become, “as realities so rich.”2 It is my hope that as much as you might come to know God, God shall come to know you even more. For it is God’s knowledge of us, not our knowledge of God, that is stressed so highly as a criterion for determining our future fate (Matthew 7:21–23). But may you come to enjoy in heaven what you have longed for here on earth, because as Jesus said, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God” (John 17:3).

Note to the Reader

The Way of Faith can be read in many ways. It can be read in spurts and sprees, glacially and with gusto. The recommended approach, however, is to read this book both incrementally and intentionally: one chapter a day, with time and space to contemplate its contents. Read it slowly and surely, working your way through it like a river on its water-course, winding from one prayerful thought to another, being carried along by living waters until you make your way to the sea—and out into the great beyond.

1

The Long Winter

“But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations

on those who love me and obey my commands.”

Exodus 20:6 NLT

Sometimes spring arrives early, and occasionally it comes late. In 1609, however, the season scarcely came at all for the fledgling colony of Quebec. In fact, spring might as well have not sprung, since the long winter claimed twenty of the colony’s twenty-eight colonists. Yet the eventual arrival of spring did not mark the departure of the surviving eight, even though they knew that dysentery, scurvy, and starvation could strike again. Instead, the courageous eight amazingly remained, for they realized that the preservation of Quebec required the perseverance of its people.

There are seasons in the spiritual life when the calendar says spring, but it still feels like winter in the soul. Like the colonists in Quebec, we’re surviving, but we’re not thriving. Spiritually, we may be born again, but things somehow feel stillborn; there’s faith but it feels lifeless, love but it seems lackluster, and hope but it all looks helpless. As in Quebec, we’re trapped in winter, desperate for spring, but we’re afraid that it might come too late.

At some point we must decide between passively plodding and actively persevering, because the choices we make in winter will shape the character we have in spring. For what we do in the hardest times, influences what we do all the time.

In Quebec, the colonists who bravely endured gave new life to the land by subsequently shaping its culture, language, architecture, and religion. Likewise, those who have kept the faith in even the harshest winters—like Joseph in prison, or David on the run—have blessed themselves and others with an even greater spring.

In winter, we owe it to ourselves to see the season through. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you …, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11). And we also owe it to others—to do them good rather than harm—because whatever we do for ourselves, we ultimately do to them: the caring provide care and the courageous give courage, but the bitter show bitterness and the despondent spread despair.

Most of all, however, we should keep faith with God, because God has kept faith with us. And it is precisely when life and faith are at their hardest—when a relationship with God feels the most impersonal to us—that our perseverance can make God’s relationship with us feel all the more personal to him.

Application:What are the kindest words of encouragement you can give to yourself in order to preserve and promote your own faithfulness?

Supplication:Lord, might I give to you what I wish you would give to me, so long as I can see that whatever I have given to you was first of all given to me. For I have no faith to offer you apart from the faithfulness you have offered me. Thank you. Come, Holy Spirit. Amen.

2

To Have Faith, Be Faithful

“You will seek me and find me when you

seek me with your whole heart.”

Jeremiah 29:13

Jesus told a parable about a father who had two sons. In it, the two sons were both asked to work in their father’s vineyard. The first refused to do so but thereafter went to the vineyard and worked, whereas the second son said he would do so but never did. When the audience was asked which of the sons rightly honored the father’s wishes, they correctly responded that it was the first son.

What we say matters, but what we do matters even more. This is not because actions speak louder than words; it’s because actions are the truest words that can be spoken. We cannot truthfully call ourselves runners, for instance, without running; nor can we say that we are writers, unless we’re actually writing. So too, our words of faith require works of faith in order to become genuinely faithful.

Leo Tolstoy wrote, “Where there is life, there is faith.”1 It could also be said that where there is faith, there must be life: the vital signs of vivacity, morality, and liberality. For there is more to a faith-life than just living faithfully, because we have to live with more than our belief in mind; we must live with others in mind. Indeed, it is the work of faith to become a labor of love, to turn us upward and outward, toward the good of God and others.

Just as love without faith is only a feeling, so faith without love is only fleeting. In fact, it’s fatally ephemeral, as “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26 NASB). It is dead, because faith can only live and grow through love—the kind that loves to love in word and deed, which strives for the extraordinary but thrives in the ordinary. For it is love, and not faith, as Paul said, that actually “believes all things, [and] hopes all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7 ESV). It is love that separates true faith from mere belief, just as Jesus said it would be love that separated the sheep from the goats. Which is why Paul also said, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:6).

We cannot grow our faith in God without greater love for God. Yet love isn’t enlarged just by willing it, but also by wishing for it. For just as James wrote, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God … and it will be given to you” (James 1:5), so we can ask for love and likewise receive it. So let us ask for it, because our love for God can only come from our loving-God. Let us seek it, because our faith is measured by what we desire, not just what we do. And let us find it—thereby finding the love that always wanted to be found: God.

Application:Develop your faith by becoming more intentional about your love. To that end, plan to do something both pleasant and surprising for someone you would not normally love or whom you seldom find lovable.

Supplication:Lord, as blood flows through my body, may love flow through my faith. May there be neither belief without benevolence nor faith without fidelity. Come, Holy Spirit. Amen.

3

Faith after Failure

If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, LORD,

who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness.

Psalm 130:3–4

Sin is a constant source of embarrassment to faith, since it follows us around like a shadow, matching our moves and mirroring our identity. Likewise, sin can be discouraging, because it’s nothing if not demoralizing to repent from a sin that we know we’re likely to be—if not already—tempted to repeat. But repent we must, because sin cannot be redressed until it’s been addressed, just as a sickness has to be revealed before it can be healed.

Fortunately, however much we lose the battle when we fall into temptation, we’re still winning the war when we get back up—regardless of whether that takes us many times or a million. “For the LORD your God is he who goes with you to fight against your enemies, to give you the victory” (Deuteronomy 20:4 ESV).

To sin is to be amongst the saints. For there is not a hero amongst the faithful without a sinful flaw: like Abraham the coward, Sarah the disbeliever, David the adulterer, or Paul the persecutor. But if we are like the saints in sinning, let us not be unlike them in praying. For they understood that they could approach God—no matter how imperfectly, so long as they did so sincerely—because “we do not make requests of [God] because we are righteous, but because of [God’s] great mercy” (Daniel 9:18). So when we sin, we can pray as they did, from this honest, earnest, and plaintive psalm: