THE HOPE OF A RELEASED FAITH

I wonder if some of our faith is tight-fisted. By that I mean that we are unable to experience the dynamic belief system God envisions for us because we grab a bit of it and hold on tight; never to let it go. Oddly, we actually stunt its intended power by sheltering those few things we have learned beneath our religious robes of fear.

Consider one of the church's favorite gospel stories; the fish and the loaves. The young lad had five and two. His generous release fed beyond his imagination; 5000.

If the boy should have been tight-fisted the 5000 would not have been blessed. Neither would he.

So it might be with faith. When one accumulates a couple of sound doctrines here and there, and then gets miserly with them by refusing to make them available/vulnerable to correction/addition, a great harvest of new learning is never experienced. Upon reflection I can see where I missed some of His greatest encouragements because I was off in my brotherhood corner protecting my few accumulated doctrines.

When I did such, I was unwilling to risk whether more might be out there for my belief files. I didn't want to know about the Holy Spirit for I had five verses on the Word only. I didn't want to know any more about worship for I had two places earmarked against instrumental music. My own stinginess to the Word was keeping me from encountering a vast and new arena of God working.

But when we make all we know available for release (should we need correction), what will be the result? Much more of that which we held dear will bloom before our eyes. Did the young boy share loaves and fish only to find grapes and lettuce expanded? No, he reaped a harvest of much more of what he already possessed.

When we risk letting pet doctrines go, we will not be robbed of them. Rather we will find more and more and much more of synchronized teachings which support His true will. We learn and we grow when we refrain from being tight-fisted with our beliefs.

God has more to share from His eternal Word. If we will quit holding on to the ten or twenty texts we know best, He may just have an avalanche of additional revelation awaiting! My guess....and my experience....absolutely!