Faith Matters

“Whenever we let our failures, both short-term and long-term, become the determiner of God’s character or the condition of our spiritual walk, we’ll inevitably come to some wrong conclusions. Then we’ll just as certainly make some wrong decisions – the most common of which will be running from the valley, even when it’s right where God wants us to be.”

Larry Osborne, author of A Contrarian’s Guide to Knowing God

Faith and obedience matter. I don’t think anyone would argue with that statement. But yet we do all the time; at least within ourselves. We get caught in the trap of self-worth rather than our “God-worth.” How do you know if this is an issue in your heart?

Think about this past week. Were there any challenges in your life? How about some uncomfortable situations? Were there more successes or failures? Many of us see our worth as a direct result of our circumstances. We say things like, “If I’m in tune with God, I will be successful,” or most of the time the opposite, “Things aren’t going so well, so I must have done something to make God mad.” In short, we begin to question God’s faithfulness.

Sometimes when we’re in a valley it’s exactly where God wants us to be. Our role is not to doubt God but to persist in our faith in spite of our doubts. Instead of wasting time with a pity-party, start by doing the next right thing.

Faith and obedience matter. They always matter.