“Perfecting What’s Lacking In Your Faith”

I Thessalonians 3:7-11

7) Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith:

8) For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.

9) For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God;

10) Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?

11) Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.

Introduction:

M

uch time and effort has been spent teaching the Bible. In most instances, this means that commentaries, word studies, and various other “helps” are consulted, yet when all of the “learning” is over, the “learn-er” is no better off spiritually.

Sadly, too many of those belonging to God believe that learning of God will bring them victory in God. This is sad because victory comes through believing God, rather than because we “understand.”

What we must accept is that everything about God and all that concerns Him is spiritual. This is what makes it unnecessary for us to operate in “human knowledge.”

Main Thought

If we are honest, we will acknowledge that many of us wonder why it is so hard for us to live up to the standard of salvation. In too many cases, it appears to be more difficult than it ought to be.

What is it that we would possibly be missing? If we believe what God says, then why are “things” not “working” as we had hoped? The simplest, most accurate answer is that our problem lies in our being human beings, and the truth about human beings is that human beings think exactly the opposite of God. Now, how could we ever be able to be like One (which we must be in order to be saved) whose mind is the opposite of ours?

The chief difference between the Spirit of God and ours as human beings is that He is totally selfless, while we are totally selfish. The Lord thinks in behalf of us, while we are thinking in behalf of ourselves, alone. In order for us to “change,” to make any forward progress, we are going to have to realize that things do not “work” as we think, imagine, or hope. Any constrictions that we attempt to impose on what is spiritual will always invalidate that very thing. This is why we find ourselves going without and remaining unhappy year-after-year.

As the redeemed of God, what we must “perfect” is that which is spiritual. This is possible only through faith and only concerning what is spiritual, for that which is human can never be perfected.

The plan of God was established as it was to remove if from the realm of that which is human. This ensured that its success would be dependent upon God, and Him, alone. This very fact means that as long as we are dependent upon the Lord, we have the assurance of success, for all human limits are removed from what we have been called to do.

If we are honest, we will acknowledge that our attempts to accomplish what is spiritual through our flesh are always frustrating, and accept the fact that if we continue to do things the same way, we will “self-destruct.” Spiritually, we are “killing” ourselves by doing what is in our own best interest, yet we cannot bring ourselves to stop trying to “make it work.”

The only way to conquer the “handicap” that is our flesh is for us to be put to death. There is nothing about the flesh that can be improved; therefore, we must look to rid ourselves of it.

We are what we were born. We were born human beings; a state of being that can be improved by nothing but death. We know from personal experience that it is impossible for one born human to change his own direction. Day-after-day, we show that we are failures concerning what we must do. Try as we might, we simply cannot seem to bring ourselves to do what is right over what we want to do.

Our biggest problems come from the fact that we attempt to avoid testing. When we do this, we fail to grow or mature, for it is through “distress” and “stresses” that our faith is strengthened. When we find our tests coming in rapid succession, they are coming that we might “grow up” quickly. Successfully, weathering them requires us to enter them all accepting that God knows all.

We, as the people of God, must magnify Him that much more in our tests. This will come as we realize that all that has come to us is because He has blessed us, and that if there is deliverance to be had, it will come only from He Whom is able to deliver us. This will enable us to express genuine joy in every test, and we will find ourselves being able to maintain our “position” in Him—and with Christ, “position is everything.”

Perhaps most importantly, we must be delivered from worrying about what happens to “me,” for the only thing that is important is God’s presence in our situation. Nothing that happens to us is able to affect Who God is; therefore, nothing that happens to us is worth the worry. No matter what, God is worthy, and the only thing that we must remember is that in all situations, His worthiness supersedes our comfort.