Ambidextrous Faith

It is said that Gregory of Nicea often praised his friend St. Basil for having "Ambidextrous Faith." You may ask, "what is ambidextrous faith"?  In Gregory's mind, ambidextrous or two-handed faith was the ability to trust God no matter what was taking place in one's life.  Gregory further commented that St. Basil accepted the trials of life with the same faith with which he accepted the pleasures of life.  Both, he believed, came from God.  Wow!  Now that is the kind of faith that I desire. 

As many have documented, it is much easier for us to trust when the path is clear, when the provisions are sure and when the problems are few.  But, how necessary is faith when the outcome is certain?  Anyone can believe, anyone can trust in the face of certitude.  It is during the moments of uncertainty and doubt that faith  truly becomes necessary.

I would remind you that Hebrews 11:1 states that faith "gives us assurance about things we cannot see."  As Philip Yancey says, "the invisibility of God guarantees that I will experience doubt."  Quite honestly, I struggle with that statement, because I always want to believe.  I never want to experience doubt. Yet, I must confess that there are moments, hours and sometimes even days when my faith is not as strong.  As I mentioned in my last blog, it is the skeleton in my closet. 

It is precisely in those moments of weakness, when I cannot see and when I do not understand, that I must blindly trust.  As Paul says in II Corinthians 5:7 "We walk by faith and not by sight."  What we need is not just a one-handed faith.  But we desperately need to be ambidextrous!  We need to trust God with life's pleasures and we need to trust God during life's problems.  We need to trust God when there is plenty and when there is little, when I am healthy and when I am sick, when I understand what God is doing as well as when I do not understand.  Regardless of what is taking place in my life, my faith is strong.

Lord, please give me anbidextrous faith!

The Skeleton in My Closet

When I was interviewing for the pastor position of Hollywood Community Church, I was asked several times by both the pulpit committee as well as the Leadership Team if there were any skeletons in my closet.  The obvious meaning being that they wanted to know if there were any hidden sins, secrets or temptations that when exposed would bring shame to the church and reproach to the cause of Christ.  Thankfully, God has graciously allowed me to not become victim to any of the things which have brought down so many of my ministerial colleagues.

This week, though, I was reminded of the fact that there still may yet be a skeleton in my closet.  Philip Yancey in his book Reaching for the Invisible God said that "doubt is the skeleton in the closet of faith."  The simple truth is that every believer has times when his faith is weak. Many of the great characters of faith in the Bible had their moments of doubt.  Abraham feared for his life in Egypt and lied about Sarah being his wife.  Job's friends were shocked and angered by his willingness to freely express his uncertainties and hesitations.  The demoniac's father in Mark 9 asked the Lord to help him with his unbelief.  Even the disciples pleaded with the Lord to increase their faith.  So yes, I also must confess that there are moments when my faith is weak and the skeleton of doubt hides in my closet.

Do you have times when you seem more skeptical than trusting?   Take heart in the fact that you are primed and ready to experience a growth spurt of faith.  For it is truly in the moments of doubt that you have the greatest opportunity for your faith to grow.  So take your skeleton out of the closet and realize that it is nothing more than a hard structure upon which living tissue can grow.  Allow the Lord to increase your faith.

Romans 10:17 - So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing  by the Word of God.