It is interesting what I learned about FAITH during my
recent trip to Uganda with Designs for Hope (www.designsforhope.org). What makes it so interesting is that my
primary responsibility on the trip was to provide pastor/discipleship training
and my topic of choice was the significance of our faith. In fact, I am actually in the process
of writing a book based on Paul’s letter to the Romans that, among other
things, speaks to the significance of our faith – primarily how all of a
Christian’s life should be about living in faith. This is an important topic to me not so much because I
consider myself an “expert” at faith, but quite the opposite – because faith comes
so hard for me. I am very
much a critical thinker, so I need answers! I want answers to everything. The problem is that God does not give us all the answers in
the world. God only gives us what
we need in order for us to trust him in faith – and the first 5 chapters of
Romans explains to us so clearly why we must come to God in faith and not
through our own merit, works, or critical thinking.
Going to Uganda seriously tested my faith… but being in
Uganda taught me a great deal more about faith than I ever anticipated. To begin with, we really had to have
faith in God that he would be sovereign over all the agents of travel. As part of our mission, we needed to
get 50 12V gel-cell batteries to Uganda.
The transportation industry is VERY particular about the types of
batteries allowed in the baggage compartment of passenger airlines. The list of prohibited batteries is
very specific. Likewise the list
of permissible batteries is very specific. The problem is that our batteries didn’t fall into either
list – so were they prohibited or permitted? The answer depended upon who you asked and ultimately is the
decision of the cargo manager at the airline. We worked for weeks trying to get a definitive answer as to
whether we could pack the batteries in our luggage; and by the time we realized
we were not going to get an answer, it was too late to ship the batteries so
that they would be guaranteed to be there in time. So in faith we both shipped them and also put another set in
our checked luggage. It was so
encouraging when we were sitting in the airport in Ethiopia, waiting to board
the last leg of our journey to Uganda, and we could look out the window and see
the bags with our batteries being loaded into the cargo bay of the plane… God was faithful…
…but then we got to Uganda and discovered we had 4 other
bags missing – and there were critical components to our mission in those
bags. We didn’t need them until
the 4rd day in country, but for 3 days we prayed and “argued” with
the airline about the status of our bags.
In the wee hours of the morning of the 4th day… the courier
showed up with the bags. God
delivered again just in the nick of time – not too soon, but not late either.
These were tests of our faith, but they weren’t
faith-tutors. In reality, it was
the people of Uganda who were my personal faith tutors. To see the overwhelming poverty
in which so many Ugandans live was difficult enough, but to hear their prayer
requests was even worse. We may
think we live by faith here in the states, but how many mothers do you know
whose main prayer request is that God would provide food so that her babies do
not starve? In Uganda, you either
live by faith or you live in hopelessness.
Unfortunately, I saw more hopelessness in Uganda than I did
faith – and that was also a faith tutor for me. I realize I was only there a few days, so impressions here
could be overly generalized, but those impressions were pretty clear to
me. Uganda is 98% “Christian” but
I dare say the number of people who had real saving faith was only a small
fraction of that number. As I was
preaching about the difference between simple belief and a faith that saves…
and about the difference between a belief in Jesus and truly following Jesus… I
was struck by the number of people who didn’t have a Bible – perhaps for many it
was because one simply was not available, but for most it was because they
could not read. As I watched them
worship and as I taught, I wondered whether there was any real difference
between their tribal religion of 100 years ago and their tribal “faith” of
today. Were they “worshipping” God
because they had faith in him or were they simply going through the religious
ritual that had become the norm for their tribe or village – a ritual
replacement for their old tribal religions.
I thought a great deal about the number of people wandering
the streets (and jungle paths) everyday living in hopelessness – desperately
trying to sell bananas or “meat on a stick” or even toilet paper to the passers
by so that they could feed their families. I contemplated how many people literally lived from day to
day not knowing where their next meal was coming from or whether they would
survive to the next season. These
things taught me about faith. They
taught me that without faith, life truly is hopeless. In their difficult and perhaps even miserable circumstances,
so many Ugandans could either live for Jesus with a purpose despite their
circumstances or be distraught without him. They could either hope in eternity… or they could hope
that someone brings aide so that they don’t starve to death. They could hope in the resurrection… or
they could hope in a false picture of Jesus painted by the liberation theology
that is so prominent throughout Africa.
These things also taught me that my life is far too
comfortable to say that I actually understand what it means to live by
faith. Sure, there are lots
of things I have to take by faith every day. There is much about God and the Bible that cannot be
“proven” that must be taken by faith – and for a critical mind like mine, that
is extremely difficult. Frankly, I
truly believe that is the way God designed it – so that we all come to him in
faith in one way or another.
However, God wants us to trust him for everything – not just to trust in
the unanswerable questions, but also to trust in Him for every breath we
breathe, every step we take, and every word we speak. That is why he only gave the Children of Israel enough manna
for one day. That is why Jesus taught
his disciples to pray “…give us this day our DAILY bread…” That is why many of our struggles seem
like they have no way out – until God delivers us through them and we see he
was in control all along.
So I come home from Uganda with this dichotomy: The world in which the Ugandans live is
so incredibly different from ours that it is ridiculous to even try to compare
them. Yet at the same time, there
is an eerie similarity between the plight of the Ugandan people and the plight
of the American people.
Our differences are firmly established in the physical
world. We live in unprecedented
wealth. Even our “poor” are
wealthy compared to the world’s standards. They live in abject poverty. We have access to every modern technology and medical
advancement. Most of them do not
even have the basic “needs” we take for granted such as electricity, clean
running water, or simple medicines.
We are as different as night and day.
Our similarities, however, are grounded in the spiritual
world. Both cultures appear to
have a great misconception about faith.
For decades, our country has been “culturally” Christian, just like the
Ugandans are today. Now, our
culture seems to be drifting from that culture into an “any kind of faith goes”
mentality. Their culture seems to be drifting into a “trust Jesus and you will
get money” mentality. In both
cases, there seems to be a great need to understand real, saving faith. Sure, there are legitimate,
dedicated and committed followers of Jesus in both cultures, but there appear
to be so many others in Uganda who are worshipping the “god” of their tribe or
village rather than the God of the universe. Likewise, there appear to be many
of us who are worshipping a “god” of our own design – a god that makes sense
for how we want to live – a god after OUR own image. I saw many people singing to Jesus, but very few who
appeared to be actually following him.
I see the same thing every day here. This similarity was reinforced when one of the Ugandans
approached me after one of my sermons and said, “It is good for them to hear
you preach this. They need to know
that you [that is, Americans] have the same Jesus we have.” They need to make their faith personal
and their own and fully surrender to Jesus. We need to make our faith personal and our own and fully
surrender to Jesus. We are exactly
the same.
At the end of the day, what I learned about faith is how
universal our need for it really is.
As different as we all are, our shortcomings ultimately are the
same. We are all in need of a
savior. We all need to place our
faith IN him… and then live by faith every day.
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