10/21/2025
How do we faithfully live our lives? Do we seek excitement, advancement, or greatness as we pray, and do we ask God for these things in the same breath in which we ask Him for a deeper faith? If we happen to be a preacher in a small church filled with godly families, do we still plead in prayer for a megachurch and a television show that bears our name? Our faith is what leads us to sainthood, not millions of dollars; not all that is of the world, because these things are of little spiritual consequence to God.
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
Colossians 2:6-7 ESV
We will abound in our lives, some of it will be worldly, but the things that really matter are of Jesus Christ and our faith. When we grow strong in faith and righteousness the other things suddenly appear as they actually are... distractions.
“Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?"”
Matthew 19:24-25 ESV
What are we rich in? Whatever we believe to be our treasure, this will be what we place before God in our worship; is it wealth, fame, fortune, glamor, or some other worldly vice? In such things we find snares that entrap and subdue our faith. Such desires for grandeur grab hold of pastors, laymen, and sinners alike, wreaking equal devastation upon their souls. A great bible teacher who now teaches because people praise his knowledge, a Pastor who preaches because people lift him up for his ability and godliness in the pulpit, a layperson who “owns” the church because of the power of his tithes and wealth; these are all false idols. These all lead to death.
What I will tell you, is what Jesus told the wealthy young ruler and that was to get rid of those earthly things that you worship and follow Him. This is easy to say but it takes much strength of faith and character to do.
Learning the Bible, preaching, building a church, tithing every payday, all of these things can be done with absolutely no help from God, or without any faith whatsoever in Jesus. I read a powerful statement by Pastor Oswald Chambers regarding this very subject. Listen to what he had to say...
“We do not need the grace of God to stand crisis, human nature and pride are sufficient, we can face the strain magnificently; but it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours in every day as a saint, to go through the drudgery as a disciple, to live an ordinary, unobserved, ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God; but we have not.” - Oswald Chambers
When I was a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute there was a man who swept and mopped the floors of the stoops in barracks. He was a janitor (or in VMI terminology a stoopie) and his life was exactly as Oswald Chambers just described, but his humility and faith over the years led him to become one of the most beloved figures known to VMI cadets. His words of encouragement, deep abiding faith, and absolute love for them elevated him. He is dead now, but there is a plaque on the wall between the two adjoined barracks buildings that bears his name and image.
As you read the words of Oswald Chambers, you were probably thinking to yourself... “Yeah, but he was famous Himself!” What you probably don’t realize is that he died before his first book was published, and if not for the efforts of his widow we would know nothing of him today. Oswald died of Appendicitis at the age of 43 because he gave up his hospital bed to wounded soldiers. He died a humble man and relatively unknown evangelist.
Our faith isn’t about what we accomplish in this life; it is about how we live it. Jesus didn’t want rich followers... he wanted to give His followers treasure that this world could never provide them... He offered them untold riches in heaven.
“"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Matthew 6:19-21 ESV
Where do we seek to have our treasure? How do we wish to live our lives? Do we live a life of worldly faith, or one of deep and abiding faith that is valued beyond measure by the Lord? Are we a father or mother who goes to work every day in a low paying dead-end job to provide for our family and who comes home to teach our children about how much God has blessed them that day? Or do we believe that God’s blessings in our lives depends on the size of our checking account balance, while our children hear only of blessings that come from the worldly gifts they receive from us?
Our faith is not predicated upon success in life, nor on what we accomplish here... our faith is more important than all of those worldly things and is worth far more than the value of what we would receive by selling all we own here on earth. Jesus told the young ruler to sell all he owned and give the proceeds to the poor… then to follow Him. Is He likewise calling you today? Is there something in your character, desire, or life that is standing in the way of a deeper faith that He is asking you to overcome? Does something keep you from having any faith at all? So, what are you going to do now? What direction are you prepared to go?
Prayer:
Father I thank you for all your many blessings in my life, I thank you for your provision, your love, your presence, your Son Jesus Christ, and the unwarranted grace you have given me through Him. Thank you for helping me to focus my priorities on knowing you and worshiping you with all my heart. Thank you for allowing me to demonstrate to my family, and to all those around me, the way you fill my life. I pray Father that the treasures and pleasures of this world do not become a distraction, or requirement for me. I pray that if those things are placed in my life I will have the strength of faith to overcome the temptation to worship them. Holy Father, I thank you for the example of the fine men and women of faith you have placed in my path, and I pray that you will teach me to walk closer to you through their examples of faith. Bless me through them and may their righteous example be reflected in everything I do for you... not just in what I think you have done for me. If this means obscurity so be it, if this means poverty so be it, if this means my being humbled before the world so be it, but if it means fame, wealth, or power, then teach me to withstand them and keep me in my prayer closet all the more. Father I am a weak man and you know my limitations... keep me n your straight and narrow path and never allow me to reach the breaking point of my faith. Father, have mercy on me and pour your grace over me. Hear this my prayer and know that I will praise you all the days of my life, and find your blessings in the least of the world’s offerings. Strengthen me as I learn to be content in the much and the little alike… for both lead me to you.
Amen!
“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Philippians 4:11-13 ESV
Rich Forbes