More thoughts on taking steps of faith

Friends in Pittsburgh Metro Cru,

I don't know about you, but I'm really excited as I look around at what God is doing in our community!  There seems to be a thread running through everything we've been doing lately -- taking steps of faith.  You may not have been there for each of these events, but to help jog your memory:

• At Fall Retreat, Dan Flynn taught us that faith is an action verb
• At Cru, Kirstin encouraged us to walk the walk, not just talk the talk, of our faith
• At our off-site Cru, we launched out in groups to Pitt and CMU to pray and have spiritual conversations with students
• At October's Friday Feast, we discussed the need to boldly take the initiative

I am thrilled to see us all trusting God in tangible ways that stretch our faith!  It is evident to me that God's Spirit is at work, providing our students, staff, and volunteers with open doors to share the gospel, boldness, clarity, and guidance.  How awesome is that?!

And yet, great beginnings in faith steps aren't always sustained.  So many factors are at work against our making a kingdom impact (we're in a spiritual war, after all)-- the enemy's temptations and obstacles, fatigue, worldly distractions, etc.  We can't give up!  As a community, we don't just want to experiment with steps of faith, or take a few steps of faith.  We want to cultivate lifestyles of taking steps of faith.

I was thinking about this recently as I was reading from 2 Timothy.  What an appropriate letter for all of you in our Cru community!  Paul is near the end of his life, and in this final letter he officially passes the torch to his young disciple Timothy.  The letter encourages and guides him to step up in his faith and impact the world.

This passage specifically stood out to me:

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.  Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.  No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.  (2 Tim 2:1-3)

I've bolded and italicized above what I think are three key principles to sustaining a lifestyle of faith:

     1. Our strength comes not from ourselves, but from God's grace (2:1)
     2. Our most sustainable strategy is spiritual multiplication (2:2)
     3. Our focus needs to be on eternal, not worldly, things (2:3)

Maybe the meanings and applications of these principles are obvious; I'm not sure.  So I'll explain them relatively briefly:

1. In any situation where we might take a step of faith, we can either trust in our own knowledge, abilities, eloquence, etc., or we can trust that God is good, that He'll help us, and that He loves us passionately no matter what happens in our step of faith.  Having the latter perspective allows God to strengthen us through His grace.

2. If I single-handedly try to reach every student in Pittsburgh with the gospel, I won't get very far before I "burn out" and give up.  But if instead I invest in a few guys and train them to share their faith and to each invest in a few more guys, pretty soon every male student is within reach of the gospel.

3. Roman soldiers didn't mess around with the latest town gossip or attempt to get the best deal on the newest wool blanket.  They had a commanding officer whose opinion meant everything to them.  Likewise, we -- who are Christ's soldiers in a spiritual war -- shouldn't be concerned with Sex and the City or optional internships when there is a mission at hand.

I hope this section of God's word will be as helpful for you as it has been for me in thinking about how to sustain a lifestyle of faith.  Like I said waaaay up there at the top of the article, I've been blown away by how faithful you have all been in taking steps of faith.  Well done!  I pray that God will help us continue to trust Him as we step forward in faith...

...so that someday every student in Pittsburgh will know someone who truly follows Jesus.

Jon