Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see. HEBREWS 11:1 (NLT)

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The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. 
The Message

Faith is not the product of our fondest hopes and dreams. At its essence, faith is trust, trust in God. It is a ruthless trust that he is who he is and that his purpose for this world and for our lives is the defining reality of all reality. 

My calibration of what is good, truly good, is sometimes a wee bit off. A day or two ago, I guessed my weight before stepping on the scale. I was off by a pound. Better make it two. Add in how COVID has limited my exercise and such and, well, that is two on top of a few extra pounds already. 

God’s dreams for me are better than my dreams for myself. What I want more of or less of is often in inverse proportion to what God wants. I want things that make me feel good and look good. God wants things that make me good and good for something good. 

If our faith is oriented toward a Mansion in the Sky someday, we require recalibration. Faith is trusting God here and now in the stuff of life. It is trusting God that he is at work all around us. He wants us to join him in building a better life for ourselves. He wants us to join him in helping others build better lives. He wants for us better homes and communities. He wants better schools and workplaces. 

Faith is not something relegated to that Day of Days. It is for today. Faith is trusting God day by day and moment by moment throughout each day. It is aligning our thoughts and attuning our hearts to God’s. Spend time in the Gospels. Notice how Jesus viewed people others overlooked. 

Jesus told a man with a withered hand, a true curse for a working man, to stretch it out. This physical impossibility became possible because the man trusted Jesus. 

One of the biggest cheaters in town was also among the shortest. Jesus looked up in the tree and said, sing along with me now, “Zaccheus, you come down, for I’m going to your house today!” The change in Zach’s life overflowed into the lives of those in the community. When that wee little man trusted Jesus, everyone benefited. 

To another man, Jesus asked, “Do you want to be well?” He did. He was. All he had to do was trust Jesus. 

Today can be a day of ruthless trust and rich reward. Today we can discover new depths of God’s reality simply by taking him at his word, in living what we say we believe. Today could be HGTV for me. My whole life could be renovated by trusting God from the bottom of my heart (Proverbs 3:5, 6 The Message). So could yours. 

Check your calendar. What’s on the schedule today? How can you apply God’s truth to that work and those encounters? Since not everything is going to go according to plan, and since there will be encounters you cannot foresee, how will you trust God in the interruptions and redirections? 

Does this make your heart beat a little faster? Trusting God is the great adventure. It is living on the cutting edge. It is a radical reorientation from playing it safe (and boring) and stepping into all of God’s goodness. 

Faith makes life worth living. Trust God to be true to his promises in every moment. Trust him with the solution to your every problem. Trust him for the right words at the right time. Trust him. Feel free to hum the old hymn that says, “Faith is the victory.”

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I will trust God in every moment.

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Our Father, you have nothing to prove to me about your trustworthiness. The facts of this world focus on your reality. My past is filled with milestones and stepping stones and other markers of your unmistakable intervention. I choose to follow you through this day, to walk with you all the way. I trust you for all I can see and all I cannot. I want to sum up today this evening with that old hymn, Faith is the Victory. Amen.