Are you an IF or a THOUGH?

Our faith is always being challenged and we often are reminded (sometimes not nearly enough) that we are frail people who live on a fallen planet. Philip Yancey tells the story of George Everett Ross, who as a pastor said he observed two kinds of faith in his congregation:

One says IF and the other says THOUGH.

One says:

IF everything goes well,
IF my life is prosperous,
IF I am happy,
IF no one I love dies,
IF I am successful,
then I will believe in God, say my prayers, go to church and give what I can afford.

The other says:

THOUGH the cause of evil prosper,
THOUGH I sweat in Gethsemane,
THOUGH I must drink my cup at Calvary
nevertheless, precisely then, I will trust the Lord who made me.

So Job cries: 'Though he slay me, yet will I trust him'.