The Cost of Faith

FaithWalkDaily October 10, 2008

Acts 14:22
...strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said.

Paul and Barnabas covered a lot of ground together, preaching in synagogues from town to town at great risk to themselves. Peter had already been thrown in prison for preaching salvation through faith in Jesus. Paul had been stoned so severely the Jews who'd done it thought he was dead and dragged him outside the city. There was a great price to pay for preaching Jesus.

What does that mean to us? It's not just about carrying the gospel, although that is certainly the plan for each of us. If we go back to the OT Scriptures, we see that it's all about living for God. And tons of failures along the way. I don't know about you, but it sure does ease my mind to know David didn't do life perfectly, Moses didn't do life perfectly, Ruth and Esther had their moments and Mary Magdalene had 7 demons cast out of her. Do you suppose she might have had a few struggles in life even after she was saved? Come on, none of us is perfect, so let's relax a little. But not too much.

Salvation, being forgiven for our sins and accepting the atoning death of Jesus, is not a ticket to ride. It's only the cash to buy the ticket. Now what we do with that cash is very important. We can waste it on foolish things so we don't get to ride at all and have to traverse that mountain on foot, or we can use it to honor and glorify God for a cruise on the Good Ship Lollipop.

Let me speak English. Life is as hard as we make it. God gave us the manual for living. If we read and abide by it, chances are it will be fairly smooth sailing, with a few storms to weather along the way, but excellent equipment to get us through with relative ease. If on the other hand, we choose to try it our own way, rebelling against God's wisdom, we're going to run out of resources before we run out of road, on our own and without a compass.

Will the gates of heaven still open when we get there? Probably. I don't presume to have all the answers by a long shot. But I'm pretty sure the road will be a whole lot easier if we choose to seek, listen and follow God's plans. Job's life is the perfect example. He did everything right, honored God, walked in faith. God let Satan take everything from him. Did he turn away from God? No. Was he hurt and angry? Yeah. But he remained faithful despite it all and God rewarded him with more than he lost for his faithfulness. Yes he had a rough spot but God smoothed it all out.

I know if my life is miserable, it's only because I chose to do things my way. We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God, that's a given. So why make it harder than we must?

There's a story about the refiner's fire that sums it up.

As the woman watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." (Malachi 3:3)

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy - when I see my image in it."

We should rejoice to be in that refiner's fire. It hurts. It's hot. But in the end, God has stamped His image on us, so we can shine for Him.

Heavenly Father, wow. You are amazing and we are stupid. Forgive us for wanting to do things our own way, for choosing the rugged mountain rather than accepting your gliding gondola to the top. We gladly accept Your refining fire, to shape us, purify us, make us gleam for You. Thank You for Your patience with us while we stumble in the dark. Thank You for lighting the way back to You. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.