Frustrating Faith

Frustrate:


To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart:

To cause feelings of discouragement or bafflement in.

To make ineffectual or invalid; nullify.

Faith:

confidence or trust in a person or thing

belief that is not based on proof

belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion

The more I seek out what God has called me for the more overwhelmed I feel. My faith in God's design doesn't fail, but I become frustrated with myself and therefore my ability to follow God's plan falters and I stumble.

How is it that I continually fail? I take comfort in the fact that I am not alone in my struggle to give over my earthly desire to limit God's ability to bring beauty out of my human-ness.


Romans 7:14-25

We know that the law is holy. But I am not. I have been sold to be a slave of sin. I don't understand what I do. I don't do what I want to do. Instead, I do what I hate to do. I do what I don't want to do. So I agree that the law is good. As it is, I am no longer the one who does these things. It is sin living in me that does them.

I know there is nothing good in my sinful nature. I want to do what is good, but I can't. I don't do the good things I want to do. I keep on doing the evil things I don't want to do. I do what I don't want to do. But I am not really the one who is doing it. It is sin living in me.

Here is the law I find working in me. When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. Deep inside me I find joy in God's law. But I see another law working in the parts of my body. It fights against the law of my mind. It makes me a prisoner of the law of sin. That law controls the parts of my body.

What a terrible failure I am! Who will save me from this sin that brings death to my body? I give thanks to God. He will do it through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So in my mind I am a slave to God's law. But in my sinful nature I am a slave to the law of sin.


I want so much to be able to be more than I am, but I continually hold myself down from doing things that will glorify God, and all because of my human-ness. How do you move from frustrating Faith to a faith that boldly moves on, and through, the stumbling blocks of our human failings?