clementsfamilyministry.com

Moving On Or Standing Still


There are many factors that can stagnate or stop our forward movement.  An unexpected disappointment in a relationship, occupation, health issue, financial loss, or spiritual crisis.  Whenever expectations, realistic or unrealistic, are not realized, the consequences can be spiritual, psychological, and even physical.  That is, a crisis that is not managed properly can potentially prevent further growth and development.  Disappointment with self, another individual, or even with God can generate frustration, fear, resentment, suspicion, distrust, and other forms of emotional and even physical disorders.  In fact, scientist have affirmed the connection that exist between mental health and physical well being.  Emotional pain, regardless of its cause, can have damaging effects upon the entire body, soul, and spirit.  The critical concern is not so much the cause but the cure.  What can we do?

Proverb.....declares that "as a man thinks in his heart, so is he."  Of course, this verse must be understood in its context.  If we became everything we thought or if we possessed every thing that preoccupied our conscious thoughts, then we undoubtedly would be healthy, wealthy, and happy.  So we are not simply the products of our thoughts.....but our would can expand or shrink according to the ideas, thoughts, convictions, and people we include or exclude.  We can choose to believe, disbelieve, trust, distrust, or obey or disobey.  In short, the power of the human will is a force to be reckoned.  While we may not have absolute control over our social environment nor the factors that seek to influence and control us.....we can choose the way we respond.  In fact, response is strength while reaction is weakness.  While response represent a proper explanation of our world and its influence upon us, reaction is the surrendering of that  process. 

In our contemporary world, many individuals are wrestling over issue of health, economics, and other social welfare issues.  They desire to know why faith and hard work have not produced the dividends expected. In fact, some are wanderin gif they have believe the wrong things too long.  This is a major concern, since our beliefs and convictions have a significant influence upon our emotions, attitudes, and behavioral patterns.  This is especially true when our faith propositions have not yielded the expected fruits.  Such a crisis can give rise to other questions.  Will God help us?  Will we have enough?  Will we be left alone?   And have we expected something that simply will not happen?  

For years, the faith proposition was whatsoever things you desire when you pray, then believe that you have them and you will have whatsoever your desire.  This is still a wonderful proposition.  Furthermore, we were taught that by faith, we call those things that be not as thou they were.  In essence, faith enables us to bring the unseen into a realm of reality and even to give significane to insignificant things.  Since  faith allows us to look beyond the obvious, faith can also call those things that be as thou they were not.  That is, by faith we can cause things to disappear and to become insignificant.  Faith allows us to put life into a proper perspective.

For years, the  faith proposition was misinterpreted to be a  denial of reality.  We denied the sense realm and  the existence of symptoms, facts, figures, and any other reality.   In fact,  faith was considered to be fragile and incapable of being exposed to the facts.  So we were told to avoid negative people, hopeless confessions, and information that contradicted a promise or validated the reality of the problem..  So by faith we denied the existence of the sense realm and declared that symptoms, circumstances, and even people did not exist.  But to the contrary, faith is not fragile but it is rugged.  It is not a denial of reality but the recognition of finality.  It does not deny the existence of anything but it questions and challenges the duration.  In essence, faith looks beyond the obvious and allows us to recognize a promise or privilege that is beyond the present.

Faith allows us to put all of life, spiritual and natural, into a proper perspective.  It enables us to determine the duration, origin, and effect of matters.  That is, by faith we give meaning to events, circumstances, and even people according to such factors as time, cause, and influence.  We can assess all things in terms of their duration (temporary or eternal), source (spiritual, natural, or environmental) and influence (degree of affect it has upon our total existence).  Dr. Martin P. Saligman in his book entitled, :Learned Optimism, uses these categories to explain all events.  He claims that if you allow something that affects one area of your life to shut down your entire life it paralyzes movement.  Furthermore, if we claim permanence to a matter that is actually temporary then it produces hopeless and despair.  In essence, he claims that optimism and pessimism are both learned behavior.  His premise is most interesting.

Faith works by explanation.  We must be able and willing to give some meaning to events, circumstances, and other factors that invade our social existence.  Whether it be an issue of health, social welfare, relationship, finance, or occupation, we must be willing to look beyond the obvious, control our emotions, and discover meaning based upon the duration, source, and influence.  Faith is not shattered by our outside world of people, ideas, beliefs, and confessions.  But it is greatly affected by the meaning we give to the issues of life.

We will discuss this idea of spiritual momentum in more detail in the next article.