Just A Moment?

  Every preacher has one great sermon, that doesn’t mean he is a great preacher. A student can ace a test; it doesn’t mean he is going to pass the course. An athlete can have a great year, but that doesn’t mean he is going to the hall of fame.

  In his autobiography of his stand-up career, Steve Martin had this to say:

It was easy to be great. Every entertainer has a night when everything is clicking. These nights are accidental and statistical: Like lucky cards in poker, you can count on them occurring over time. What was hard was to be good, consistently good, night after night, no matter what the abominable circumstances.

  Yet when it comes to faith some think differently. Faith is a moment. A once and done kind of thing. In the right place, at a certain time, when the mood is right, I will have faith and then that’s all I need. I really felt the presence of God. I was on a spiritual high. I was moved.  Faith is momentary.

  That, however, isn’t what we see of those described as having great faith. They were longsuffering, patient, they endured.  They had faith when things were up and when things were down.  No matter the circumstances, no matter the crowd, no matter the mood, they were faithful.  Ahab trusted God for a moment (1^st Kings 21:25-29), but it didn’t make him faithful.  Those of faith are those of consistency.

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:2-4

  Real faith isn’t defined at the tops of the mountains; it is in the entire journey. It’s remaining true and good even when the rewards are few. It’s enduring even in moments of disappointment and malaise.  One week where I am really close to God, then fifty-one others of worldly living isn’t faith.  One day a week I give to God and keep the rest for myself isn’t it either.  Those mountaintop moments can be great but to be perfect and complete, they can't be all there is.

Faith isn’t a momentary acknowledgment of who Jesus is, it is Him living in you every day.