Not so with faith. It still has life to it and always will. Doesn’t matter if it is the stuffy, old preacher looking down at his notes through his reading glasses or the prisoner testifying to his fellow offenders—our ears seem to perk up when we hear the word.
Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. –Hebrews 11:1
Kierkegaard notes faith is humanity’s highest pursuit. Some make it that far, but none go further. Faith isn't the ability to believe into the distant future. Faith is believing God and taking the next step.
Faith is best thought of as a verb and not a noun. Something we do and not something we have. A journey and not a destination. And it’s a gift from God – we can’t create it – we can only receive it and respond with it. (1 Corinthians 13:13)
Risk is part of faith. Refusing to take an adventure for something extraordinary is a guarantee for achieving something ordinary. Risking means possibly losing one's footing; not risking means losing oneself.
Possibility is part of faith. Faith is believing the possibilities and not accepting limitations. Hope is the painting; faith is the painter.
Dependence is the beginning of faith. At times in our life we have been pushed and will be pushed to our limits. Here is the world. Bad things happen and so do terrible things. We’ll discover, sooner or later if we haven’t already, that independence from God doesn’t work out. And dependence is the beginning of faith.
Dependence is the beginning of faith. At times in our life we have been pushed and will be pushed to our limits. Here is the world. Bad things happen and so do terrible things. We’ll discover, sooner or later if we haven’t already, that independence from God doesn’t work out. And dependence is the beginning of faith.
Trust is the maturity of faith. The trusting disciple just doesn’t believe in God, but also believes God and trusts God. The disciple trusts that God can do more with six of our days depending on Him, than he or she could do in seven days independent of Him. The disciple trusts that things like praying for our enemies makes no sense, but because it’s God’s idea then it is a good idea.
Redemption is the product of faith. Redemption means a ransom has been paid. Redemption spends less time looking at the brokenness from the past than it does at the possibilities of a blessed future.
You have a choice and so do I. We can either error on the side of faith or the side of doubt. Choose to receive and respond to God’s gift of faith today and all days.
The best is yet to come…
Craig
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