As Christians, there are certain expectations that we set for ourselves based on God’s Word. As humans, meeting these expectations is an impossible task. None of us is without sin, nor are we able to avoid temptation, let alone turn away always. Our faith is continually tested.
To walk with Christ is a challenge in itself. We have continual tests of faith. Sometimes we lack faith altogether. There are times when I pray for God to just give me a break! After all, He knows I’m human. Why do I have to struggle so? Why do I have to work so hard to find my way to Christ’s path?
There are times when I’m simply out of ideas on how to follow Jesus, when I can’t for the life of me muster the inspiration to step one step farther in the goodness of Christ. I look at the Bible and see the words, but they are simply that: words. I know that at one time, God’s words sang truth to my soul, the Holy Spirit danced in my heart and the printed page was the Word. But now…now it’s all gone. I am out of ideas, void of understanding. And I am lost.
Times like this reminds me of something I read by one of America’s greatest writers. In his book A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway recalls a time when he was asked about story ideas. Hemingway, a prolific writer, was asked if he ever ran out of ideas. And, if so, how did he cope with writer’s block? Hemingway said that whenever he was at a loss for a story idea, he sat and wrote one factual sentence. He wrote one true thing, from which the story flowed.
The Bible has factual sentences throughout. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). These are true beginnings to a great story; true things from which the story of man, his failure and his redemption flowed.
What is your “one true thing?”
Read Philippians 2:9-11:
9Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.“Jesus Christ is Lord,” is one true thing from which our story as Christians flows.
John 20:31,
“but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” “Jesus is the Christ, The Son of God,” and
“in Him was life, and the life was the Light of men,” (John 1:4), is one true thing.
When I am lost, and I cannot seem to find hope in my life, when I cannot find a way to live the way I believe the Lord would have me live, I try to remember one true thing. It’s not always the same thing, but it always points to the truth of God’s eternal sovereignty and the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, died for my sins.
I hope you will remember at least that as your one true thing.
Blessings!
Pastor Bill
