Live on Purpose

As a follower of Christ, my faith in Him  is my foundation.  I know that sounds strange to have something abstract in someone who I can’t see to be the very thing that grounds me, but it is truth.

The longer and better I know Christ, the more my faith levels increase, but at times, if I’m honest, the foundations of my faith seem to be cracking.  Difficult circumstances, persecution, stressful times, family crisis…and the list goes on as to the things that play a part in weakening my foundation.

In Psalm 11, David was having this same struggle.  As a matter of fact, he asked the question (yes, it is ok to question God, as long as you listen to His Word for answers!) “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Well, the first question, we must ask ourselves when the foundations are being destroyed is, “Who or what is our foundation?” Ephesians 2:20 tells us that if we are “in Christ” then we are “…built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. ²² And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

So the obvious conclusion then, if our foundation is Christ, is that it can’t be destroyed!  But you say, “Kevin, it certainly doesn’t feel that way sometimes!”  Well, frankly, I agree and I bet Martha, the sister of Lazarus would have agreed as well!

We all know Martha, the busy, serving friend of Jesus.  Her and her family held a special place in Jesus’ heart.  Lazarus gets violently ill and news of this travels to Jesus and Jesus does something that shocks Mary, Martha and even those disciples who are closest to him!  NOTHING!  That is what Jesus did – NOTHING!

Now, let’s stop right here and ponder this in our lives…how many of us have petitioned on behalf of ourselves or someone and we were persistent and faithful and claimed the glory of God and Jesus answered with NOTHING?  NOTHING!  That word is hard for us to swallow, especially in regards to faith and especially when we’ve been so seemingly faithful!  But yet it happens…people get sick or die, people lose their jobs or a relationship…NOTHING – Jesus did NOTHING!  Can you identify?  Good, then we can proceed…

Jesus finally arrives at the tomb of Lazarus and there are mourners everywhere, the grave is sealed and Martha is “fit to be tied.”  She comes to Jesus and announces in John 11:21 “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!”

Now, I would say that the foundation of Martha’s faith here is pretty great in that she knew the power of Jesus to heal the sick!   She trusted, knew, the power that Jesus had and that if He had been there, He would not have let Lazarus die.  AND SHE WAS RIGHT!  If Jesus would have been there, Lazarus would not have died, so Jesus didn’t go!  He wanted her to see a side of Him that she and no one had ever seen!

You see, like David and Martha, there are times in our lives, when Jesus can swoop in and save the day, but the reality of that is simple:  Our faith would remain stagnant, the same if He did this – so He does NOTHING until all hope is seemingly gone so that we can see more of Him!  The foundation is being destroyed right before our eyes.  Like Martha, our faith may extend to the next life because she told Jesus that she believed Lazarus would rise in the “last day.”  We are like that too.  We hold hope and faith in heaven and sometimes we allow this future hope to get in the way of today’s hope!

The reality for Martha, was that Jesus was not going to let Martha’s faith be destroyed, but He was, in fact, going to make it larger!  He spoke to her dead brother 3 words…”Lazarus, COME FORTH!”  At that point Martha’s faith was made stronger than ever and I bet she never, ever rushed Jesus into acting in her time again!

So back to us…when it seems like Jesus is doing nothing, and everything is slipping away and our faith is taking a pounding…rest easy – Jesus is still on the throne and He is planning a miracle to raise your faith to the next level!  Back in Psalm 11, David trusted in this as well… “The Lord is in His holy temple, and on His heavenly throne…the Lord examines the righteous…upright men will see his face!

So if you think your faith is being destroyed…take heart!  God is still working even if it seems like something in your life is dying!  He is your foundation and at times, He must expand your vision of Him and take you deeper in the foundation of your faith than you ever expected to go!