Goliath Must Fall: Winning the Battle Against Your Giants by Louie Giglio

Author:Louie Giglio [Giglio, Louie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2017-05-16T07:00:00+00:00

1. We remember that faith thrives in discomfort.

I spoke this message at our church, and when I came to this first point, it couldn’t have gotten any quieter in the house. One of those “don’t breathe” moments. Faith goes hand in hand with discomfort. Oh, that’s just great, Louie. Exactly what everybody wants to hear.

But hey, don’t let me get in between you and God’s Word. Read the entire chapter of Hebrews 11, the “hall of fame” faith chapter in the Bible, and you’ll see what I mean. “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (v. 1). That’s seldom comfortable.

In fact, the gospel is rooted in a place of discomfort—Christ’s discomfort. The cross brought pain to Jesus in the same breath it brought freedom to us. We are alive because of Christ’s discomfort. We can fully live because of the rugged cross. Christ endured what was uncomfortable so we could become the sons and daughters of God. This is our story. People ask, “What does it mean to be a Christian?” It means to put our faith in the work of Jesus. What is the work of Jesus? That he came to earth. He lived. He was crucified. He was resurrected. He ascended into heaven. He sent the Spirit of God, and he’s now living inside of us. This is the gospel. This is what we believe, and it all hinges around a very uncomfortable moment.

Somehow as a people of God, if we’re not careful, we can sing songs about the uncomfortable moment of Jesus while we live in the very comfortable moment of us. Thank you, Jesus—you took it all. But we forget what it truly means to identify with Christ. The Bible tells us that as Christ followers, we identify with his crucifixion just as much as we identify with his resurrection. Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” That means our dreams and plans become merged with Christ’s when we remember that death and life are both part of Christ’s work. Romans 6:8 says, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” That’s our call. To die with Christ and also to live with him.

Can you name anything in the life of faith that’s completely comfortable? Resisting sin? Nope, not comfortable. Being transformed into the image of Christ? No, not comfortable either. Joining with Christ on his mission? No. Wondrous, but not always comfortable. That’s why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “For Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Faith thrives in holy discomfort. The greatest moments in life can often result from some of the most uncomfortable decisions being made.

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