Guarding Faith

"I walked by the field of a lazy person, the vineyard of one lacking sense. I saw that it was overgrown with thorns. It was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down. Then, as I looked and thought about it, I learned this lesson: A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest -- and poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber" (Proverbs 24:30-34).

As I read this verse tonight, I was struck by one thought: We can never be too diligent in guarding our faith through a dynamic, vibrant, ongoing relationship with the Triune God.

It takes only the tiniest of cracks for the enemy to slither through and begin to wreak his havoc, twisting and distorting and reshaping Truth into lie upon lie. He plants one weed in the garden of our faith that multiplies into two, then four and eventually, the weeds grow so tall and numerous that they overtake the tenderly growing flowers of revelation and wisdom, snuffing out their fragrance of life.

I recently heard a prophetic speaker, Pam Hanes, speak the following: "I don't want to settle for even a five-minute-old revelation of God." And I think her words strike to the heart of what our spiritual diligence should be.

Indeed, our God is always speaking, always moving, always working and always revealing Himself. Are we watching, listening, waiting, expecting, sharing and multiplying our faith? Or do we take the small talent He has entrusted to us and bury it in fear and uncertainty over whether there is more to be had, in fact questioning the generosity of God's revelation?

God called the man who buried His one talent "wicked and lazy" (Matthew 25:26). How much more so are we if we rely solely on what we have known from God and of God even five minutes ago. For, the mysteries of love and faithfulness and truth to be discovered through Christ are without end.

Were we by the generosity of the Spirit to have a new insight of Him every single minute for the rest of our lives on earth, we would still be nowhere to the end of what we could know of our Father, of our Savior! How amazing!

I pray that our heart's desire is always to dig deeper. To be ever diligent in seeking, so that the enemy has no place to sneak in and divert us from a passionate and relentless pursuit of our beautiful Bridegroom!

A lifetime is not enough to seek out the fullness of His heart toward us. But, because that is true, what an incredible journey of endless discovery, what "wonder and adventure"* awaits us in this life as we look forward to the day when all is revealed and made known! (* The Shack).