Faith is a Funny Thing

He did it again. Once again, we woke up to a puddle of pee on the mat in the kitchen. Carl is almost a year old and doesn’t want to go out in the rain to urinate so he relieves himself inside where he can be nice and dry. For the last couple of months he has been so good but we also haven’t had a lot of rain. Will he ever be house trained?  It is hard to have faith that he will, but I just have to believe.

I wonder where this faith comes from. Experience sure doesn’t demonstrate that Carl will stop his bad habit and make his way through the doggy door when it is raining outside. Does the faith come from conjuring up pleasant thoughts about the day that our two dogs will never have an accident in the house? If I work hard enough with Carl, will he stop this aggravating behavior and be forever perfect?

Faith is a funny thing.  We think it all comes from us but does it? I always thought that it was my job to have faith in God and in my salvation. This morning I read two scriptures that blew this theory right out the window.

In John 20:11-18 Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb and finds Jesus’ body removed. Now here is a woman who has been with Jesus throughout his entire ministry and heard repeatedly his claim that he would be killed and rise from the dead. Now if anyone should have faith in the resurrection it should be her. But here she is weeping over the fact that she believed that someone had taken the body. The actual thought that Jesus had been resurrected had not entered her mind. Then Jesus presents himself to her and she still doesn’t recognize him.  Then he does the coolest thing! He calls her by name. He actually addresses her personally. Only then does she believe.

Jesus had to intercede before she believed. And all this time, I thought it was all on my shoulders to have enough faith to make it through the pearly gates.

I then turned my Bible to Psalm 23 and what I saw took me by surprise. The first couple of verses talks about what the shepherd does. Not me.  In verse 2 he makes me lie down and leads me. In verse 3 he restores and guides me. He does all the work. Not me.

The knowledge that He chose me to have the faith that resonates in my heart provokes a sense of gratitude towards my Lord and Savior. And if I pray with faith for all things, He will listen. Which leads me back to my little white dog who has been doing his business outside for the last couple of rainy days. But either way, I will forgive him when he does make a mess and keep loving him.