Last week our preacher commented, “If you think growing in faith is a continual ascent into joy, you’re mistaken. It’s a downward path of continual humiliation, of casting off the old self and putting on the new.”
Well, who wants that?
I do… if I stop to think about it. I do want to grow in humility (though preferably in as painless a way as possible), and I do want to desire God for the sake of who he is (instead of for the peace he can give me). I yearn to peel off that ever-sticky old self (again) and put on the new. So I’m praying Ephesians 4:22-24 and asking:
- What have I been casting off lately?
- How seriously have I been working at it?
- What am I avoiding casting off?
- What’s so ingrained that I don’t even see it?
I wouldn’t complain if growing in faith was all happiness and sunshine, smooth progress and quick rewards. But if the way to walk with God is down a bumpy and sometimes painful road, that’s the path I’ll choose. Because more than anything, I want to be with him.
