Uncover Why Your Faith is Stuck - Reflection
How self-aware are you? Do you feel a vague sense of dissatisfaction in your life, but you aren’t sure where it’s coming from? Do you feel an underlying hum of frustration but you don’t understand why?
Taking some time to reflect can help you understand what is working and what isn’t working in your life and in your relationship with Jesus.
“But I don’t have time for that!”
I’m told I have the gift of being blunt. I haven’t decided if that’s actually a gift, but here goes…
If you don’t have time to reflect on your life and consider how you’re actually living it, then you’re too busy.
Tough love here - if you are OK with going through your life feeling frustrated, dissatisfied, and like you’re missing something in your relationship with God, then keep running at the pace you’re going at and don’t worry about reflecting on how your life is actually going and what’s causing your frustration and discontent.
However, if you’re tired of feeling that way and are ready to get to the bottom of it so you can live the way God designed you to live, you need to make some time to reflect. I’m not talking about going on a week-long solitary backwoods camping trip or even spending hours off by yourself somewhere. Just take a little time once a week to ask yourself some questions.
What’s working?
What’s not working?
What is frustrating me?
What do I like about my life right now?
What don’t I like?
What needs to change?
Where is my life not pleasing to God?
The Bible talks about reflection:
“I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to Your statutes.” Psalm 119:59
“Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.” Lamentations 3:40
“Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup.” 1 Corinthians 11:28 (referring to communion/the Lord’s Supper)
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24
Sometimes, reflection involves asking God to search us and show us the areas of our lives that aren’t working because they aren’t how God designed us to live.
“But I just go through life and don’t think about it much. How do I figure out what’s frustrating me?”
Ask yourself questions. The ones I listed above are a good start.
To help you with this, I suggest taking a look at a friend’s site - Laura Garry. She has compiled a list of “Why?” questions designed to help you figure out where you’re stuck in your faith. You can find her at www.lauradgarry.com and download her list of “Why?” questions from there. You can also follow her on Instagram @lauradgarry.
We can’t fix what we don’t know is wrong. Being self-aware and taking some time to let the Holy Spirit show us where He wants to work in our lives is the first step to uncovering why we feel frustrated and stuck in our faith.
What we believe impacts the rest of our lives as well. Following Jesus affects our relationships with others, how we work at our jobs, how we raise our kids, all of it. There’s no separation between sacred and secular - between church and the rest of life. It’s all intertwined.
So if you’re consistently struggling with your relationships with others, for example, take a look at your relationship with Jesus. The Bible has a lot to say about how we conduct ourselves in relation to others. When we’re struggling with things like communication, conflict, or forgiveness, we need to take a look at whether we’re living the way Jesus taught us to. When we don’t do that, we have struggles and frustrations. The same goes for the other areas of our lives.
That’s what Romans 12:1-2 is all about:
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
I’m not saying that every time we’re frustrated with something it means we’re sinning. Sometimes life is just frustrating. But if we have areas of our life where we’re repeatedly frustrated and discontent, we need to look at why that is. We may need to renew our minds with the truth of God’s Word.
To learn more about the BUILD method of using journaling and spiritual disciplines get unstuck in your faith, take a look at this overview here.
Do you find time to reflect? How have you found that to be helpful?