Tag: Faith

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Our Treasure in Trust

Think about it for a moment: Which of your possessions do you cherish the most? Personally, I have four: a keyring screwdriver that once was my dad’s, a picture of my mother, a sleeve of golf balls given to me by my then eleven-year-old son, and a just-for-fun card from my wife. Oh, and a queen-sized quilt Peggy handstitched. (So, make that five.) The quilt aside, the cumulative monetary value of all these things collectively would not likely exceed $25, but I treasure them more highly than anything else I own, for they speak love in ways my heart well receives.

Overlooked on my list, however—and perhaps yours, as well—is an intangible gift more valuable than anything our senses could perceive: namely, our faith. The apostle Paul tells us faith is “the gift of God,”1 and his contemporary Peter declared faith to be “of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire.”2 “Without faith it is impossible to please God,”3 declares the writer of Hebrews, and conversely, the humble faith of a Roman soldier left the Son of God amazed.4 (Think about that for a moment.) With faith as small as a mustard seed we can move mountains5 and uproot trees.6 It is through faith that we are declared righteous,7 and it is by faith that the righteous live.8

How vital, such faith! Who can measure its worth? It is our “yes” to God, so precious to Him. Then I must ask myself, is my “belief” in God merely the acceptance of His realness—mental assent from the “safety” of interpersonal distance—or do I follow my belief daily into a loving, trusting, and receiving relationship with the “I AM”?9 Is my faith merely “wishing upward,” or is it the complete entrustment of my life and everything in it to the love, wisdom, and power of the eternal God? Does my trust in God’s willingness to act accompany my belief in His ability to do so? It must.

So, this is where I find myself these days: called to trust entirely in the ability and character of God and, thereupon, to the complete entrustment of my wellbeing to Him. Peter calls us to “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”10 Now doesn’t “cast” suggest complete riddance, a tossing off of our cares from us to God who can handle them? And His “care”—doesn’t this speak the character from which God acts and in which we may trust?

God sees more than we see, knows more than we do, loves us more than we love ourselves, and cares for us better than we know how. Then may we speak our love for Him in the way His heart well receives, through the treasure of trust.

Lord God, thank you for the precious gift of faith. May we, in turn, entrust our all to you. Be pleased with your trusting people. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 Ephesians 2:8 NIV
2 1 Peter 1:7 NIV
3 Hebrews 11:6 NIV
4 Matthew 8:10 NIV
5 Matthew 17:20
6 Luke 17:6
7 Genesis 15:6
8 Habakkuk 2:4
9 Exodus 3:14
10 1 Peter 5:7 NIV

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The Maturity of Childlike Trust

For several years, Howard and Kim and their two children joined other families on an annual short-term mission trip to Quinhagak, Alaska, a remote village 350 miles below the Arctic Circle and just a mile off the Bering Sea. Arriving their first year, the adults — about 18 of them — gathered in a school building to pray and strategize about how to interact with this Yupik indigenous people group. How do we connect? How do we relate? Yupik is their primary language, so how do we build relationships? At some point during their contemplation, the adults looked outside the windows at the dilapidated playground where the Yupik kids and their young guests from the lower 48 were “having the time of their lives,” truly bonding in the universal language of play. Kim recalls, “It was like God saying, ‘Just be like little kids. Humble yourself, just relate.’”

We tend to complicate things, don’t we? Relationships, foremost. Ultimately our openness comes down to this: Can I trust your character, and can I expose mine? The children of Quinhagak and their new friends showed what it means to live “Yes” and “Yes,” naturally connecting, relating, and building relationships. And wasting no time in the process! It recalls an incident when twelve gatekeeping disciples attempted to bar children from Jesus’ presence. “[Jesus] was indignant. He said to them, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’”1 Isn’t this the kind of open relationship God desires to have with all of us — joyful, unhindered, belonging, receiving? There was amid these children no second-guessing of Jesus’ character, nor was there any holding back of their own, just eagerness and trust, delighting in Him who delights in us.

This is submission of self in confidence to Christ. This is the maturity of childlike trust. Then may we, too, “humble ourselves, and just relate.” With Jesus.

Epilogue. “And [Jesus] took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.”2 May He do the same with us, His children, today.

O Lord, You are compassionate and good, humble and kind, truthful and forgiving. Remind us each day of Your boundless love for us, that we would eagerly, openly and completely trust You with our very lives. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 Mark 10:14-15 NIV
2 Mark 10:16 NIV

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The Unseen God Sees Us

“We walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 ESV

As children, my brother, sister, and I engaged one day in an impromptu game of Hide & Seek. Eric was the seeker and, after he found me, we both went searching for Lisa, who was two years old at the time. We found her lying face down on the kitchen floor, her hands covering her eyes, and being very quiet. Our mother whispered to us that, since Lisa could not see us, she thought we could not see her. So Eric and I started walking about the house, asking aloud, “Where’s Lisa? Where’s Lisa?” A little betraying giggle arose from the kitchen floor. “There she is!”

In his first letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul exalted God as “the unseen one . . . he alone is God.”1 Not seeing Him, however, sometimes leaves us wondering if He sees us. Oddly, we’re quite convinced He observes our sins, but less certain as to our hurts and needs. We lament with David, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?”2 Yes, fear comes to us more naturally than faith. But God is loving and faithful, and He acts in His higher ways and in His perfect timing. For instance, when Sarai’s pregnant servant Hagar fled from her in fear, an angel appeared and assured Hagar not only of a son, but offspring beyond number.3 So, Hagar gave this name to the Lord: El Roi, or “You are the God who sees me.”4 What a humble, beautiful and liberating confession.

Paul teaches us, “The things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal,”5 and so “We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.”6 That’s what faith is, “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”7 It is the creature who is flesh submitting to the Creator who is Spirit. And our faith pleases God, for it echoes throughout the heavens and the earth His character, moreover the entrustment of ourselves to Him.

Then what must we do? Seek Him boldly and in full confidence, for the unseen God will not hide from us. Rather, “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”8

Father, today I rest completely in this: You are the God who sees me. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.9 In Christ we live; in Him we pray. Amen.

1 1 Timothy 1:17 NLT
2 Psalm 13:1 ESV, emphasis added
3 Genesis 16:7-12 ESV
4 Genesis 16:17 NIV
5 2 Corinthians 4:18b ESV
6 2 Corinthians 4:18a ESV
7 Hebrews 11:1 NIV, emphasis added
8 Matthew 6:6 NIV
9 1 Timothy 1:17 ESV