What's Your Faith In

In the opening pages of the book of Luke you can read the bullet points details of a story that has so much more going on behind the scenes.

Zachariah, who is a priest is married to Elizabeth who is the cousin of Marry, the mother of Jesus.
The bullet points that we see in the first chapter are...

• Zechariah is a priest
• He is a priest in a group of priests that have existed for many years and find their roots in the grandson of Solomon
  
• He and his wife lived lives that pleased God
  
• They have no children
  
• They wanted to have children and they have been praying for a child for a long time
• They are old now and well passed the years of having a child
  
• Zechariah never gave up on God; he keeps serving, he keeps praying, and he keeps living upright.

There is a line of thinking in the church that says when we ask God for something then, "have faith". You know, ask and then just believe that eventually it will happen.

Have faith that ...

• the relationship will turn around
  
• you will get pregnant
• the money will come back
  
• she will get healed
  
• you won't loose the house
  
• when he gets out of jail he'll finally get cleaned up
  
• you get the idea...

But here's the thing, I don't think Zechariah had faith that his wife would one day get pregnant. Or let me say it this way, I don't think that's what his faith was in.

This guys has been doing everything right, he has the right heritage, he is serving as a priest & he is good priest & a good man. Perfect, no, but upright in the eyes of God.

He's the kind of guy that seems like the perfect candidate for God to bless, but God remains silent to Zachariah's prayers, year after year after year -- silent.

Now, he & his wife are old & the dream is all but dead. Then in the final chapter, God speaks & he says yes & He gives Zechariah & Elizabeth a son, John; John the baptist that is who if you haven't heard, was a pretty big deal!

So, is that the point, just hold out and God will eventually say yes?

NO

See, if that was the point then I'm pretty certain that long ago, Zechariah would have given up. I mean the data is in; YEARS of unanswered prayers, two bodies that are now old & passed their ability to have a child. Even if Zechariah was holding out to the last possible minute for God to obviously come through, well, that minute has long passed. And yet, Zechariah is found here still serving the God who seems to have ignored Him and His wife all these years.

I'm going to suggest that Zachariah's FAITH wasn't in God doing what He had been asking for, but his faith was simply & solely in the PERSON OF GOD no matter what He did or didn't do.

When we were kids we had a point where we realized that our parents giving us stuff or not giving us stuff wasn't the full measure of their love & goodness. My son may have questioned that for a minute this Christmas when he didn't open a wii. When we mature in our development to realize that their love for us can not be based on what they do or do not give us then we start to understand that gifts are the product of love not the proof of it.

But what if my son only ever loved me for what I gave him and for the times I said "yes" to him. May i suggest that he would never really love ME but instead would just see me as someone to use.

Zachariah's faith was in the person of God so much that even when God said "no" or when God seemed silent or when his good life went unrewarded, he still loved and pursued God, and HE TRUSTED HIM even when the circumstances would tell him not to!!

I pray that as a church, we will all respond to God's invitation to go deeper in Him this next year. For many of us I am certain that going deeper in Jesus will mean that we learn to place our trust purely & solely in Him and not in the deals we make with God...

• I'll trust you if...
• I'll go to church if...
• I'll live upright if...

When our faith is in His "yes" or His "no" or His gifts then we completely miss the point, frankly, we completely miss Him. Remember, the best God has to offer you is likely better than even the best you can think to ask of Him. The best is us getting more OF HIM not getting more FROM HIM.

Where is your faith and what is it in?