Not all roads lead to Rome: Common Misconceptions in the Faith Walk
This is our weekly post here at deposition of our faith. Thank you for joining us.
This is Week 16(!).
(Although you can start from anywhere, we encourage you to read up on previous posts as well as some articles lead into the next one).
Scripture Reading: Proverbs 14:12
This week (and maybe subsequently), we are going to be looking at some common misconceptions in our faith walk with God. Let us get down to it without any further ado!
— God does what ever we ask —
This one is what sports folks could call a “rookie mistake”. In short, God does not do what ever we ask. He does what ever we ask in line with his will. This is one thing that annoys people. Some people think that God will do whatever we want because “…ye shall have whatever ye say”. Some think God is a genie that grants wishes, “so,” they say, “It’s obviously fairytales.”
However, a lot of the times, our faith walk is about making us understand that God is telling you how the world (Word) works. He is telling you that there are things you must do to see things fulfilled, to have joy, to have wealth, to be a righteous person. So, for instance, you can’t pray for God to reveal his answers to a proud person.
For instance, God has already told us in scriptures that the meek will he show his ways (Psalm 25:9). You cannot force him to make the proud meek, because He said it’s a personal decision (behold, I stand at the door and knock…Revelations 3:20). He can’t do both the knocking and the answering because he’s not a petty thief that picks the locks to the door of your heart! You have a personal responsibility to be meek, even if you can pray for the grace to be meek.
Sometimes we pray for the things we think we need. Like I said a few weeks ago, we sometimes act like a child who won’t take his medicine because it is bitter. He wants juice instead! And the juice is what upset his tummy in the first place! Sometimes we ask God to give us our own poison.
If you want to see a growing Christian, watch the things they pray for. They pray for revelation (God, show me what I’m doing wrong. Or show me what to do more of). They pray for forgiveness. They pray for guidance and direction. They pray for light. They give thanks, they pray for God’s kingdom.
For instance, God gave us many formulas to that handle this equation called life. One of those equations is, “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these other things will be added unto you”.
Faith is about getting it right in your believing and your asking. Not about praying for Lamborghinis and for 30-hour-long days so that you can meet your work deadline!
“The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.”
So you can’t pray for the lazy to be a trailblazer without the lazy person first becoming diligent.
In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.
So righteousness is antecedent to glorious living.
One inherited misconception that stems from the one we just discussed is that Faith encourages laziness because it is about God doing things for you.
However, faith does no such thing. Anybody who has ever truly gotten a victory through faith knows that faith is hard work. God calling us to have faith is not telling us we don’t need to be disciplined or diligent, He is simply telling us that discipline and diligence in this respect (faith) is what will give you the best solutions.
He does a lot of pointing, this God. He will lead you in the way you should go. Man was never intended to be jobless, so God cannot encourage laziness! We were put in the garden to tend to it and take care of it. In the early days of mankind, God told Adam, the first man, to name all the animals. God did a lot of instructing and man did a lot of doing. Jesus Christ said, “I have come to do the work of He that sent me.” God expects us to be hard workers.
However, people mistake the hardest jobs for the most rewarding work. Everybody advises people to inculcate the habit of working hard, but they don’t tell you that although in every labour there is profit, not all labour yields the results you expect or even need. Sometimes you are trying to move a Boulder to get into a cave, but all your hard pushing is doing is building your arm and core muscles! The rock is not moving, but you are getting ripped. But that’s not the result you want! You want to push the Boulder away, so that you can get into the cave. You are not pushing it so that you can become the next Mr. Universe.
This is the understanding we should have about hard work. Yes, all labour yields profit, but many people are labouring after the right things the wrong way, and even more are chasing the wrong things. They are labouring after money in hopes that money will give them peace. Or, they are labouring after fame in hopes that fame will cure their unhappiness and make them feel loved. However, many people end up at the edge of the cliff holding all the money in the world and yet, still sleeping with one eye open. Many people end up with millions of people loving and cheering them on and still end up in the belly of depression. So we see that, yes, difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. However, contrary to the popular saying, not all roads lead to Rome.
God wants us to work hard in line with faith in the right way. I’ve said before on the blog that faith is not as passive as it sounds. Yes, you are letting go and letting God, but my, is it difficult to let things go! You are trusting in God despite the circumstances, but my, is it difficult to just sit back and trust! The simplicity of faith is often mistaken with ease. So, when we are challenged sometimes, even after positive confession, prayer, giving thanks, praise, obedience…we begin to crumble. We do not realise that just because you found the way doesn’t mean the enemy quits.
Check this out: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been signed since the 10th of December, 1948. A whopping 73 years ago. Yet, it would take the most ignorant debater to argue that all human beings around the world are enjoying those rights today. Same thing goes with civil rights, for coloured folks, for women, for minority groups. Many of these rights have been declared, many bills have been written into law, yet the struggle continues.
Why?
Because there are parties who gain more from your maltreatment. There are parties who stand to lose from your liberation/empowerment. There are “forces” that fight for their own “right” to deny you of your rights! If you stop fighting for the enactment and fulfilment of those rights, you will be overthrown by forces that seek to deny those rights, because those forces are unrelenting.
So, what makes you think that just because the devil knows that you have blessings in redemption, he’s just going to raise his hands and scream, “I quit!”? He’s going to try another way! He needs your piece of the pie. He cannot stand your success. So what does he do? Now that your Bill of Rights has been signed, he will come and distort the facts. Manipulate the scales, hoodwink you so that you don’t know that you are better than the situation you are in. So, in short, faith cannot be easy work. It cannot be passive. It has to be active, it has to be continuous, it has to be patient, and it has to be disciplined.
The devil doesn’t simply go away just because he knows he wasn’t invited to the party. He’s displayed as a goat for a reason!
Friends, let us leave it here for now.
See you all next week, by the grace of God.
God bless you!
