Living by Faith

In multiple states in the US, it is illegal to possess venomous snakes at religious gatherings. These laws arose out of a need to stop a dangerous practice that was taking a lot of lives. In Mark 16, Jesus says that believers would be bitten by poisonous snakes and not be harmed. Well a few churches decided to put God and man to the test and purposefully get themselves bitten by snakes. If you were alright then you had enough faith. If not, you died. A few too many people died while attempting this and it had to be outlawed.

I don't know about you but it sounds a little ridiculous to me. Now don't get me wrong, I believe that God still miraculously saves people from snake bites. Thats not it question. What is in question is the fact that these people went around and obtained poisonous snakes and then got themselves bit just to see if it works.

While many people would say that that is little crazy and unwise, a lot of those people do it with their finances. They quote all the promises from the Bible about living by faith and having God take care of them, and yet never follow the financial principles laid out in the Bible. They believe that God doesn't justt work through the supernatural, He works through the spectacular. Don't get me wrong, he is spectacular, be the God I know works through the subtle and planned as well.

In the gospels there are a few instances of spectacular food multiplication. Twice in feeding thousands with bread and fish, and then a few times with casting the net on the other side. Jesus was in ministry 3 years and alive for 30 before that. I have to believe that for much of that time He simply obtained food and ate it. Perhaps it was so common that they felt they only needed to include a few instances, but I am not leaning that way.

My hope is that we have faith for financial miracles, but lets not get stuck in the thinking that that is the only way He works. God is working through sound principles. In conclusion, don't lose faith in the miraculous, but don't forfeit His principles in the process.