But I thought my faith was working?
by Ron Marquardt

Many of us have been thru the constant mental audit of wondering if our faith is working. Some go on for years with unanswered prayers just hoping someday - maybe. Others have found themselves in a state of “try harder next time”. One of my goals is to get back to light and easy.  Remember?  The way Jesus said it would be?

Are you going thru a mental checklist like: 

• Did I get out from under protective covering? 

• Is my spouse in agreement with me?  Or the ever popular

• Do I have any unconfessed sin?

If so, then you may have forgotten that you are (present tense) right with God or what we call “Faith Righteousness”. After all, the bible says that all the promises of God are yes and amen. Not no; not wait; not maybe. 2 Cor 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

What if knowing that you are right with God is what qualifies you for every promise, not all the stuff you have been trying to do to keep God happy enough to keep His word? What if the two smallest words in the bible “in him” are really the biggest?

I got delivered from making sure God keeps His word.  He does a fine job without me. After all, He has been finished since the foundation of the earth. He just asks us to enter into the same rest He has. Heb 4:11 Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.  Jesus was speaking to those who were tired and heavy burdened with the rules of trying to be right and showed them and us another way that was light and easy.

Salvation or sozo in the Greek describes complete wholeness as being well, healed, delivered, and prospered. All those great promises of Christ are wrapped up in how you see yourself (In Him). Quit lying to yourself. Most of us have been plagued with the thoughts of not being worthy or of not having done enough. If I were to talk to you the way you talk to yourself, you would slap me into next week and then kick my butt on the day I landed.

How soon we forget that we are so valued by God, so loved with a perfect love and forgiven, even for things we haven’t done yet. We say we believe all of these things because of Jesus, yet we struggle to believe the one thing that will bring us all of the promises: Who we are in Christ.

In my series, The Mirror, I tell of an experience I once had while I was pastoring in Oklahoma. There was a young woman who worked as a checker at a certain grocery store where my wife and I would always shop.  It was difficult for this woman not to stand out in a crowd because of a birthmark she had which covered half of her face. In today’s world of “look good”, it was not attractive, and she knew it. Unfortunately, it defined the way she acted around others. I’m sure she thought she was not good enough or every time she looked in the mirror she made a judgment about herself that left her scarred in her heart, not just her face.

One day I had the privilege to see her with her husband. This guy was over-the-top in love with her. As far as he was concerned, she might as well have just walked off the cover of Glamour Magazine. He adored her, but that was not what caught my eye. In his presence, she was changed. She did not hang her head down or speak with any inhibitions. She saw herself in the light of his love.

All of us are scarred by our own false judgments of unworthiness. Look at yourself in His eyes. Or just look at Him. I promise you will change and your faith won’t be a labor but you will know there’s nothing God won’t do for you because He loves you.

Grace & Peace

Ron