“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil”
The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Th 5:19–22.
One of my colleagues in ministry preached at Colgate Rochester Divinity School as an alumnus for a student chapel service. At one point in the sermon he said, “This is the time to test your faith—to test reason, tradition, experience, and scripture. This is your time.”
I took those words to heart and for the better part of my career since my time at Colgate Rochester Divinity School; I have been being stretched, pushed, and moved by God in my thought processes, theology, prayer life, and what I think to be true.
Questioning God, scripture, experience, tradition, and reason are not bad pursuits. If we aren’t questioning these things then what is the point of living a life of faith?
I have often experienced in my maturing as a disciple of Christ that faith grows in the hard seasons of life. When we are fully dependent on God; that is the time where God can work.
If you look at all the prophets in the scripture and the women of the bible the wilderness moments—the moments of doubt and desperation is when God speaks. I love the slogan for the United Church of Christ: “God is still speaking,” the question I wrestle with in my own faith life and the life of my congregation is, “are we listening?” There are seasons when we spend a whole lot of time talking to God, but don’t ever stop for God to reply.
There is a story of a monk around the 3rd century who was very devout and pious. He decided that he had learned all that the monastery had to teach him. He packed his scriptures, water, and some food and set out into the wilderness to find God. Weeks passed and the members of his monastery assumed the worst. One afternoon he returned to the convent malnourished and having been attacked by the beasts in the wilderness; he collapsed in the courtyard. The other monks picked him up and carried him to his cell. The laid him on the bed and tended to him with care and grace. No one spoke a word to him they focused on attending to his needs and nursing him back to health. A week later when he had regained his strength the head of his order came into his cell. He said, “you went to the wilderness to find God, but God was right here in your brothers that cared for you and brought you back from imminent death. God was in their hands, prayers, and when you had no faith, they believed in God for you.”
—Anonymous
There are times that it takes a drastic life-threatening event for us to hear and experience God. Rahm Emmanuel when he was running for Mayor of Chicago said to a reporter, “You can never let a crisis go to waste.” The media chastised him for this comment, but every crisis in this world is an opportunity to do things differently—to seek God with a fresh perspective.
We are all like that monk who went into the wilderness to find God. Through that experience his brother monks were able to put their faith into action and do for him what he could not do for himself. They saved his life and helped him learn the importance of community and love for God.
We are all a part of one anther connected biologically through our DNA, spiritually connected by God through God’s son Christ Jesus, and in our local congregations and community setting we work together to meet the needs of others in this world. We rescue those that have been to the wilderness and been ravished by life.
Today is a new day, an opportunity to open our eyes and embrace all God has to offer us and our family & friends. Paul's words to the Thessalonians are: "Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil."
Taste and see that the Lord is good and glorified by the work you do for others in this world. Be of faith, humility, and charity, and give more than you think you can.
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