Complete Faith

"When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him" So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my Son"

Matt. 2:13-15

Faith.

If someone where to ask me, "How much faith do you have," I'd respond by saying, "I have complete faith in my God!" And I do. I know that God's will for my life is best, and I have faith that, if He tells me to do something, it's for my best interest and glorifies Him, so I should do it.

Should is the operative word there.

Like I said yesterday, as much as I'd like to be, I'm not a perfect Christian. I'm not even a GOOD Christian. I have many faults and mess up daily. But I'm training with God to be a better Christian. Part of my training is having COMPLETE faith in my God. I think that you can have faith in God and still not have COMPLETE faith unless you follow your faith up with actions. (Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only...James 1:22) If God calls me to do something, I have faith that it's to fulfill His will in my life and I should do what He says. But if I don't follow that faith up with actions, if I don't DO what He says, then my faith is incomplete. As much as I don't want it to be, my faith in God is not all that it should be IF I CAN'T OBEY GOD AND DO WHAT I KNOW HE IS TELLING ME TO DO.

And you know what happens if my faith is not complete? I miss out. I miss out on opportunities to share God with others. I miss out on opportunities to glorify Him. I MISS OUT ON HIS WILL FOR MY LIFE. Granted, I believe God can and WILL be glorified and will use us whether we do His will or go our own way. However, we are missing out growing as a Christian, reaping the joys of seeing Christ work in and through us, and, more than likely, are missing out on the awesome paths He has for our lives.

Not only are we affected if we don't complete our faith by following God's will, but we affect those around us. Look at Joseph. First, he was told in a dream to take the woman he's engaged to who's pregnant with a child that isn't his as his wife...and he does it. What if he had said, "God, I have faith that you know what's best, but this is ridiculous! I've got so much going for me; I'm not going to be tied down to a wife and a child that's not MINE!" If he had said that, think about everyone that would have been affected. Mary could have been a single mom, raising the Messiah by herself. Jesus could have never been a carpenter (thus the song "Isn't This the Carpenter" would have never been written.) Manger scenes would have been sold in 7 pieces instead of 8 (Mary, Jesus, two shepherds, and 3 wise men...if you leave out the animals.) Every place in the Bible where it said Mary and Joseph could have just been Mary. Of course, that's if God hadn't sent someone else to be Mary's husband. It could have been Mary and Bob for all we know.

Thankfully, Joseph didn't turn away and follow his own path. He followed up his faith with actions. And Mary became his wife. And Jesus was the carpenter's son. And the prophet's words were fulfilled, in more ways than one. Specifically, as referenced in the verse above, Jesus was called from Egypt, just as the prophet had said. Why? Because Joseph did what he was told. When he was told to take his family, go to Egypt, and hide until I tell you to...he did it. And he did it without questioning, without waiting to make sure he had heard the angel correctly, without worrying what people might think, or who would take care of the farm in his absence. The Bible says "he got up" and did what he was instructed to do.

If that had been me, I'm ashamed to say that I probably would have analyzed and analyzed and over analyzed then reanalyzed the task at hand. God doesn't want us to worry about logistics. When we say we have faith, and He calls us to do something, we should DO it then. It's when we do that, when we follow up our faith with actions, that our faith can become complete.