Being Stretched

Sorry for the blogging break folks, LIFE. IS. BUSY. I want to leave you with a short post today that will hopefully challenge you as much as it has me!

While we were in Uganda, one morning on the bus, one of our team member's led a short devotional time on the bus. He started with this:

This was what his talk went like:

I love rubber bands. They are one of the greatest inventions ever! They are simple, practical, and useful

What is a rubber band used for?

While there are many uses for them, one of the most basic functions of rubber bands is to hold a group of objects together.

Rubber bands are pretty useless unless they are stretched. When they are extended beyond their standard form, they can hold things together and accomplish their purpose. I began to look at my rubber band as a reminder to be flexible and have rubber-band faith.

Think about it. Faith is much like a rubber band in that it is useless unless it is stretched. Our faith needs to be tested, because when we step out of our comfort zone, it is expanded. Scripture tells us that Jesus was astonished only twice—once for a man’s great faith (Matthew 8:5-10) and once for a group’s lack of it (Mark 6:4-6). The Roman commander in Matthew had so much faith that he asked Jesus to just speak words of healing and his servant would be made well. Jesus’ response was, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” (Matthew 8:10). That’s rubber-band faith.

When we are willing to step out and stretch ourselves, God shows up and does what we can’t do. We need to keep putting ourselves in situations where we whisper and pray to God, “God, if You don’t show up, I am bound to fail. I can’t do this in my own strength.” It’s hard to have rubber-band faith because we rely too much on our own abilities, but when we have this rubber-band faith, we will immediately respond, “God did it!”, instead of “I did it!” Ask God today to stretch you beyond what you thought was possible. And today if you are in a situation that seems out of your comfort zone, remember God is stretching you and building faith in you and we need to thank Him for that!

True faith begins at the edge of your comfort zone. Be bold and courageous and step out, letting God extend you. Trust me, you were made to be stretched.

I hope this will challenge and encourage you like it has me!