"Faith Without Illusions"

On my flight over to Hungary and in the days since then, I read a wonderful book by my college pastor at Mountain Brook Community! I would really encourage you to go buy a copy of Faith Without Illusions by Andrew Byers. It is excellently written, easy to understand, convicting, and refreshing. Truly, it was exactly what I needed to hear! As I have been dealing with the sin that God is revealing in me, He has really used Andy's book to speak to me.

I really love the topics Andy writes about. At first, I wasn't sure if I fit the bill of what Andy describes, but after a few experiences, I quickly found that this book was very applicable!

I could write about any number of things that Andy wrote on, but this is what really spoke to my heart in the last few days of reading.

A few times, Andy mentions about how God does give us more than we can handle. He writes about Job, and then he says this:

Contrary to the aphoristic and vapid theology of Job's idealistic friends, God presents Himself as One who defies all attempts at domestication, as One who knows no limits as defined by human conenience. The God of the book of Job is free,that is, free to act as He deems appropriate on the basis of a wisdom too profound for mortal minds. And this divine freedom can sometimes seem to impinge on human existence. ...God is sovereign over all these [wicked and monstrous] characters and forces, but there is a complexity to the exercise of His soereignity over them that will ever mystify and perplex us (Byers, 147-148).

I love that. God is so beyond whatever box I want to put Him in. But its more than that too. Andy writes about how sometimes we like to create a God in our own image (when in reality, we are created in His image, although He is still so completely other than us). I cannot do that to God. I cannot force what I want Him to be onto Him. (Does that make sense?) "I AM WHO I AM" is what He calls Himself. God is! His nature is so entirely seperate and often incomprehensible, and I can only sit in fear of the Lord. How often do I get caught up in the struggles of my faith (its hard to have faith, or its hard to trust, or I want to do it on my own) that I forget Who I actually serve? Who actually chose to suffer and fight for me? Who left glory to come after me so that He would be glorified even more?

I know that God does not belittle the struggles of faith, I know that He is patient and understanding, but I am realizing how often I become selfish in my faith (somewhat of an oxymoron, really) and make it about me instead of the One Who is the reason for faith at all.