Enoch...

 

Recently, one of my friends talked to me about a hard time in her life. She wondered aloud if she had any faith. This has been a strong Christian, mind you, devoted to God her entire life. Yet now, she was questioning her faith. There’s nothing like hard times to make a person do that, I suppose.

In the Christian community, there seems to be emphasis placed on “perfect faith.” But is there such a thing? I know that the point of being a Christian is having faith, something which seems to be intangible.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:1

That’s often not very satisfying or reassuring to our souls, though, is it? Yet God calls us to this often unseen, unknown kind of faith. That doesn’t mean, however, that it will be a perfect faith. And that’s where I think a lot of us get tripped up.

And those of us who are perfectionists? Yikes!

I’ve been thinking about the Biblical character of Enoch (Genesis 5:18-25). Supposedly, according to scripture, he “walked with God” for three hundred and sixty-five years (Genesis 5:22-23). Whew! That’s some power walk of faith! However, it never mentions that faith walk/relationship (because isn’t that what faith realty is?) was perfect. We never hear about Enoch, perhaps, questioning, doubting, complaining to and arguing with God. Did he, indeed, do those things, like the rest of us who try to pursue God in our own lives? I don’t know, but Genesis tells us that Enoch’s walk with God led to the following result:

“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”

Genesis 5:24

Hmm. Pretty fabulous, eh?

Now, I’m not saying that we will be whisked away into thin air like Enoch was in our own individual walks with God, but why should we allow anything to deter us from relationship with Him? Yes, discouragement, doubt, problems, challenges and loss will come in our lives. And guess what? We will not navigate through those situations with absolutely perfect results.

But God still desires to be close to us, nevertheless:

“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”

James 4:8

I believe self-imposed perfectionistic demands are not only harmful, but they also scream of double minded doubt. There’s a phrase out there which states, “If you wait for everything to be absolutely perfect, you will never get anything accomplished.” How true is that concerning a relationship with God? News flash: that faith walk will never be perfect. But it can be living, ongoing, relevant and powerful.

How will we decide to walk with Him, then, today?

Copyright © 2014 by Sheryle Cruse