Knowing versus Doing……Can we decrease the variance by Trusting?

Last night I went to see the movie, The Shack.  What an incredible story about a man who gets an unexpected invitation followed by the treasure of meeting the Triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to help heal a seemingly unhealable wound suffered through a tragedy with one of his children.  As a parent, the unspeakable horror that he goes through will shake you to the core.  But the healing process that takes place through these three incredible relationships is simply amazing.  Do yourself a favor, read this book and go see this movie.  I read the book three times.  For those who are rigidly tied to Scripture reference from the Bible, I will warn you now, there are some inconsistencies.  But my suggestion is that you not let that get in the way of a fantastic journey full of pain, suffering, healing, understanding and love.  I wrote about this book early on in my blogging years; if you have interest in reading more about that experience and perspective; please scroll back in this blog a few years back.

My message today isn’t as much about the story as it is about what I learned about my own journey as I watched this unfold last evening.  You see, suffering over long periods of time can change us, cause us to become numb, and eventually lose faith.  Sometimes, if the faith wasn’t nourished for an extended period of time; it can fade and instead of facing the pain; we find ways to distract us from those feelings.  Sometimes, the pain is so present, that we tend to forget the things we learned and we stop doing the things we know we should do; mostly because our faith and trust in God fades. As I watched this movie last night, I realized that this is where I was.  Right back to the place of loneliness and suffering, almost frozen by my lack of progress the last several years.  But something changed this time as I processed these thoughts and as I witnessed the conversations between this character, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. I became increasingly aware that I was not alone, and that the pain and numbness I feel is something that all people go through; and that it is simply part of this life.  James (Verse 1;2-7) wrote about it very clearly in the Bible:

² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. ⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

Yes, we will no doubt experience suffering in his life; but it’s how we deal with it that determines our peace and ultimately our ability to grow from what we encounter.  I’m pretty sure I had that part of the verse figured out, but it’s the second part that carries the heavy weight and has more correlation with me not progressing on my walk.  And that is TRUST, the fact that we must believe and not doubt.  If we do, we will be unstable in ALL we do.  Interesting, right? In other words, it’s not a matter of “when” you will experience pain and suffering; it’s a matter of how much you believe and trust that God will do something good as a result.  But this takes work, this takes a strong faith, and most importantly…...this takes TIME. 

Which brings me back to the title of this piece.  If you are anything like me, the variance between your knowing and your doing can be very wide at times.  And if you are in a place where the two align, those tend to be the happier and more satisfying moments in your life.  When you do what you’re supposed to do because you know it’s right based on what you’ve learned.  Seems like that should be very easy to do, right?  But we all know that it is not and that we all have an affinity for sin and misbehavior; some of us more than others.  It reminds me of another one of my favorite scriptures in Romans (Versus 7;14-20):

¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

This is a difficult verse, but the overall concept has actually always given me comfort.  I realize that the sin I commit is NOT ME; it’s driven by something else; and that’s it’s OK as long as I understand this and don’t let it eat away at my insides.  Again, this involves trust that the greater your faith increases; the less apt you will be to fall under this spell and do the things you know are bad for you. Therefore, you can certainly decrease the gap between knowing versus doing by trusting.  Consider trust like a vice on the outside of knowing and doing.  The more pressure you put on the vice to contract (the more you trust) the gap diminishes.  Conversely, as soon as you let go of the vice (trust); the gap widens again. 

Another important revelation I had last evening is that it’s OK to struggle, it’s OK to doubt, and you will continue to battle with this throughout your life.  The important thing to remember is to NOT QUIT, to never give up trying to improve your faith and live out your purpose. I am encouraged by this premise as I write this piece today, knowing that I will NEVER stop “trying” to be the man God wants me to be.  I will fall, but I will get up; over and over again. 

When I left the movie theatre last night I went to my car and immediately turned on the Christian radio station KLOVE.  I am very much a right-brained kinesthetic person and I am always looking for a “sign” that I’m either on the right track or the wrong track.  When I turned the radio on, the song Mended, by Matthew West was playing; a beautiful validation of what I just experienced.  I’ve placed a link below; kind of ties my message together.  Take a look and listen, you’ll be glad you did. 

Peace and Love to all……. Tony

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Otg-5p7qug