Many Christians are elated when miracles are happening and when the presence of The Holy Spirit can easily be felt. There are charismatic movements and churches that spend all their time trying to tap into the presence of the Most High. This is a noble aim, for we should commune with Christ and be caught in the presence of the Holy Ghost. However, being addicted to the feelings produced by God's presence can be to our own spiritual peril. While many believers love the mountain highs and cloud nine experiences of their faith, they should remember that a valley is coming.
To quote the great theologian C.S. Lewis, "I don't think God particularly wants us to be happy. I think he wants us to grow up and to do that we need pain. Pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world." (Shadowlands, 1993). The presence of Christ in our lives is important, but what if it ceases? If God was to suddenly shut the valve to the feelings we so enjoy in His presence off what would happen? Are we so dependent on the reassurance and gratification of him being in our midst or doing miracles that we would be shipwrecked in our faith?
I myself have been tested. God's presence has become difficult to touch and the major miracles I moved in aren't happening. It feels like The Most High has vacated Earth and is letting his disciples decide if they will follow him or fall into sin. When the fun and fabulous life ends will we abandon our savior? If God asks us to stop chasing miracles and listening to sermons and pick up our cross and go to Calvary --will we? I've spoken of suffering and how we aren't called to a life free of difficulty or persecution. What I speak of now is choosing Christ on pure reason.
If we believers were to never to feel God's presence again would we still believe in Him? If God decides to send an EMP that takes away the feelings of his presence and if stopped answering our needs will many fall away? We have to choose Christ in our hearts, not in our emotions or feelings. The heart in Hebrew is the mind and soul. Many believe in their soul which produces feelings, but the mind is equally important. We must choose everyday to believe in Christ even if His presence feels far from us. Christ himself even experienced being distant from his Father when he cried, "Eloi, Eloi, Sabathani, My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46).
Yes you must believe in your soul, in the deep core of your being, but to maintain that belief you need control of your mind. The devil seeks to deceive us and he assails the mind because the mind controls everything else. If we have a faith based on feelings, than the devil can manipulate those feelings. Our trust and belief in Christ must be stronger than our erratic emotions. It must transcend temporary sensations and transform us into his close followers.
What if God does step back from the Earth until The Second Coming? Will we suddenly doubt and discard our devotion because our Father has stopped reassuring us that he loves us and providing for our needs? I'm not claiming that God will leave us, I'm arguing that he could remove his felt presence and cease preforming miracles to see who will "eat his flesh and drink his blood." (John 6:54). To see who will stand firm and love him even if he doesn't do another thing for them again. I mean is God our genie? Are we really so weak in our love for him that we will abandon him if he stops making our wishes and prayers come true? That's shallow Christianity and it's fruit leads to the Gnashing of Teeth (Luke 13:28).
Our faith has to become more than a child relating to a Heavenly Father. We always God's Children (Galatians 3:26) but we do grow up and God does expect us to start taking on responsibility for the relationship we have with Him. At some point we have to come off milk and start eating meat. Our relationship with our Lord must evolve. We go from being infants to adults. We will always depend on our Heavenly Father, but like the relationship with our earthly father, it changes and we don't call on him for everything. As we grow in our relationship with Christ, he expects us to shoulder more of the burden and to carry our cross more and more. It doesn't mean he has left us, it means he trusts us. He sees that we our getting mature enough to handle problems on our own. Now I'm not saying you shouldn't pray, we still must communicate with Christ without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:1). But instead of expecting God to just resolve the issue after you pray, you might have to get your hands dirty and plant seed or uproot weeds. We partake in the solution as we pray, we become God's partners instead of just helpless children.
Our relationship with the Lord grows and we must still communicate with him no matter how mature we become, just like we do with our earthly parents. However, as we get older our parents expect that we can handle things they handled for us. We no longer need a milk bottle, we can cook our own meals. We no longer need them to pay our bills, we pay our bills.
I heard a story once that articulates what I'm trying to say best. A woman talked about how she had vision of herself and two other women before Christ. The first woman Christ walked up to and hugged. The second woman Christ patted on the shoulder. Finally he walked by the third woman without even a glance. The point was that he was ministering to each person's needs. The first woman was in need of complete reassurance of Christ's love. The second woman needed just a little reassurance. The third and final woman didn't need for Christ to even look at her to know that he loved her.
The point is that at some point we must move beyond the need to be hugged all the time or patted on the back to know we are loved by Christ. We need to get to place where if we don't ever get a feeling of reassurance again, we will be content and continue to follow Christ. I'm not saying you won't ever receive a hug from the Lord again or that in a desperate hour that the Lord won't intervene. I am saying that our faith must be firmly founded on trusting the Lord even if he decides for a season or more that we won't get major manifestations of his presence or miracles.
Eventually Christ said to the crowd, "The time for miracles is over, now eat my flesh and drink my blood." (John 6:24, Paraphrase). The crowds fled when the Savior wouldn't give them what they wanted. Only twelve stayed to follow him beyond the miracles. Then when he reached Calvary, only one, The Apostle John, was there with him at the end. I'm not talking about levels of faith, but not many will be like John who was with Christ during the excruciating moments. Many will flee like the crowds when the music stops and even those who are like the Twelve will flee because of fear or doubt. In the end (save for Judas) all of Christ's followers will be saved. But do you want to be shallow and lukewarm like the crowds or afraid like the other eleven and thus miss on the chance to love Christ for more than what he can do for you? We have the assurance and joy of having a God that loves us without fail. His unfailing love for us makes us certain that no matter what he will be there and love us. Shouldn't we return that same love? If Jesus no longer wants to fed us bread and fish or heal our every ailment will we still say, "praise God!?"
I think It's time we reciprocate the same love we expect from Christ. We should be willing to suffer and do without to be closer to God. It's not a one-way relationship, God doesn't just love us and expect us to not love him. God wants our love and I think It's about time the Church started loving him unconditionally like he loves us. Our Lord was scourged, skewered, and stuck to a cross so that we could be sure of his love and salvation. He died to reconnect us with Him and The Father. He was crucified to restore the relationship that Adam had with Him prior to the Fall. Jesus gave us everything; he has given us access to the Father and assurance of Paradise. What are we willing to give? Shouldn't' it be everything?
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