We all struggle at times.
People of the faith get frustrated with life. Really, they do. Sometimes it seems like we are spinning our wheels, getting nowhere fast. I confess, I am that way at times. I lose my focus. Then the complaining begins. Others in the faith are this way too. It is disheartening to listen to the on-going complaints about almost anything and everything.  If we are paying attention, we soon realize we have a problem.  We say one thing but live as if it isn’t true.

I believe it is a surface problem.
The walk does not match the talk because it is lacking in depth.  We may live with a Christian mindfulness, an academic belief in God’s truth. In practical living, our faith may be weak and not that much different than the unbelieving. This may stem from some incorrect thinking in regards to God even if the theology is fully formed. The walk of faith can be more, much more, than we have come to accept as “normal.” It takes some understanding to see where we have misconstrued this concept of the Christian walk. The premise is faulty.

Our view of God may be the reason we get confused.
Some put God in a box. It is a human trait but in error none-the-less. We have a limited view to what is observable, those things which are obvious which we can see God is doing in the here and now. It is also limited to what a person expects and wants God to do. We may put limitations on our perception of what God can and wills to do in our personal lives and in the world around us. Too many act as if they believe God is not active or alive these days, that everything in the world is going to hell in a handbag. This is a limited view. God is not dead. Living in the fullness of God’s Spirit is missing in this scenario.

People often see God as the Someone to set everything right.
When something is wrong we go to God to fix it. When something is too big or too large for us or too beyond our control, we storm the heavens. We pray when we feel desperate. Is it any surprise that there is calamity? How much better it would be if everyone could just love God for who he is not for what he does for us although the two cannot be entirely separated. God is not a dispenser where A + B = C (if I do “this” plus “this” I will get “that”). We are missing the number one reason we need God.

God made all people for relationship with him.
Although our purpose is to glorify God while on earth, relationship with God is the primary facet of the spiritual journey. God does not intend for his children to wing it, to do the best they can while pleading with him to help them. That is a limited view of what God desires in his relationship with us. The point has been missed. It is backwards in some way. The person has failed to see what God truly desires. Embedded in man by being created in the image of God is a capacity for living relationship. God made us to want more of him, to seek him, to find him, and to find our satisfaction in him. God wants humanity to see that there is more to life than the face value of ordinary living. Through Christ’s redeeming of lost humanity it is now possible. The relationship that broke during original sin is restored. Through the finished work of Christ, Christians are able to commune in oneness with the God-head. In fact, we as Christians are adopted into God’s family. We are family.

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