By Rev Nicholas Sykes

Sometimes in the course of life the issue comes up.

“How strong is my faith?

Could some circumstance arise in my life that might break it and destroy it?”

Perhaps some of us know of situations that have tested other people’s faith to breaking point, and they came away from the situation not believing in the God proclaimed by the Christian Church any more. Yet we can be sure of our faith not on account of our own feelings at any time, but on account of the facts to which faith looks, including God’s words and promises. We can place our reliance on Christ because of what He has done and what He has said. Whether we are feeling on top of the world about anything or depressed about it or mourning a great loss, does not need to control the level of our faith, because faith should look to the facts and the promises of God. We need to recognise that our souls are designed for feelings to follow faith, rather than faith feeding on feelings.

Our feelings are highly variable and are affected by all sorts of extraneous things; yet nevertheless may be well led by our faith. The Epistle to the Hebrews shows us that as a result of drawing near to the throne of grace “we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Chap 4 verse 16). We must come as dependents and not as those who are able to manipulate or control God in any way by our own feelings. And God does have things to say about the attitudes that He requires.

The prophet Amos in chap 5 verses 10-15 gives us a glimpse of the prevailing religious attitudes in northern Israel in his time. He warns his audience that it is the Lord they must seek, the Lord that loves justice and righteousness, truth and fair dealing, the Lord that hates people taking bribes and turning aside the needy in the place of judgment. “Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate” declares Amos. “It may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” Amos warns his hearers not to think that injustice and inordinate opulence, while the poor are trampled on, are unnoticed by God. Seeking Him means attending to these matters as well, and not just going to “Bethel, Gilgal and Beersheba” (Amos 5: 5), running around the places of worship. So when we in our own time “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”, we also cannot think that it is all right to attend church but leave matters of truth, righteousness and fair dealing unaddressed. The One we come to in confident dependence for grace and help, gives us such grace and help precisely to address problems such as those.

Experience shows that if we do not give out from what we receive, things go wrong with our spiritual life. There is the well-known comparison between the fertile Sea of Galilee, from which water flows out just as other water is flowing in, and the rightly named Dead Sea, from which the incoming minerals cannot escape because there is no flow of water leaving it, only evaporation. Although this is only an analogy, it is true that we who are given mercy must ourselves be merciful, we who find grace to help in time of need must dispense out of that grace for the needs of others including the needs of the Body of Christ. And let us not forget our Lord’s words “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.”

In the Gospel according to S. Mark chap 10 verses 17-31 we encounter the young man who seems to be seeking from Jesus advice on some act of specially meritorious goodness, upon which he might rely to inherit eternal life. In this account is a verse that directly portrays Jesus’ own feelings towards the young man: “Jesus, looking at him, loved him”. But that love of Jesus for him heralded a mighty challenge to faith, and one that the man could not accept, at least at first. The message of Amos to his hearers had required them too to separate themselves from their way of life if they wanted genuinely to seek the Lord, but this went further. The young man indeed needed to do something special, but the Lord judged that it was not to make some contribution or subsidy that the man imagined. For him it was actually to turn his whole life upside down, and to put himself on the same level financially as the twelve who followed Jesus, and to become like them, one who followed after Him.

The confidence we are exhorted to have in drawing near to the throne of grace must extend to a confidence over whatever that “drawing near” will imply for our lives in general. It might have very great implications indeed, as the young man of the Gospel found out. Will we then “choose for life” - the life that the Lord calls us to - or will we draw back from that choice?

 If we do not choose for life, then we will have chosen for something that is not true life for us at all. To choose rightly may seem even impossible to us, but with God, all things are possible. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

For commentary, information and devotional material see www.churchofenglandcayman.com and www.anglicansatprayer.org