The Substance.....

Have you ever felt down and out? Or maybe stuck in a rut that you just could not get motivated to get out of? Well then welcome to the human experience here on earth. Over the past four to five weeks, I myself was stuck in such a rut, the pressures of this world had begun to engulf me and although I tried to fight it, I eventually succumbed to the overwhelming pressure. As a result of the pressure, my grades began to falter; my personal life became stressed and although I physically participated in regular events at church and at home, spiritually and emotionally, I was feeling completely defeated.

Overcoming this difficult time in my life was not easy, the more I pressed forward, the more pressure was placed on my shoulders, at least this is the way that I felt at the time. Daily task such as completing homework assignments, reading my bible, or even cleaning my room had simply become unbearable and my life began to spiral terribly out of control. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Well it should if you are human, life’s daily pressures have caused even the strongest of men to slip, fall, or question the meaning of life. King David of Israel made several mistakes and Peter denied Jesus three times just as Jesus had stated. Need more examples? Charlie Sheen is a very large example of someone who has succumbed to the pressures of life; however, the subject of this post is not to discuss who buckled under the pressure or why, the point is to discuss getting back up, standing on your own two feet, and pressing forward towards the finish line.

As a Christian, I constantly lean on my faith in God to get me through rough and difficult times; however, simply stating that I have faith is not enough, I must act on that faith.  Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for with the evidence of things not seen (KJV) or in simpler words Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (TNIV) Dictionary.com says this about faith; faith is the confidence or trust in a person or thing or a belief that may not be based on proof. No matter which view point is taken, or how we personally feel about the word faith, faith is simply the belief in something that at the time may not be substantiated in the physical form. That being stated, do you have faith? Do you really have faith in yourself? Do you feel like the sky isn’t the limit because you are shooting for the stars? Or do you just give up, give in, and succumb to the pressure.

What is faith, and what does it mean to us? Well that is an excellent question; perhaps we can discuss it in simple terms and by using examples. One example of faith is the trust we place in a common household chair; although we may not be carpenters, we are quite sure that when we sit in a chair, it will support our weight. Although we have no knowledge of how the chair was constructed or how it will react under the weight of our body, the faith we have in the chair supersedes any fear that may be present and we ultimately sit down in the chair KNOWING that it will support our weight. Faith is the substance of our hopes and dreams, and through faith, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish, we must simply have faith. Life is so much larger than the small box in which we live in, we go throughout our daily lives without stepping outside of our boxes, and whenever we do step outside of the box, we quickly jump back into the box due to fear. However, through faith, we can break out of these boxes and truly begin to live. Fear forced me back into the box, a fear of algebra forced me to perform poorly in both classes when all I actually needed to do was to stand fast and break through the wall of fear KNOWING that I will succeed because I have FAITH; you too can break through the wall of fear, or whatever has you bound, with FAITH.