Use Your Faith with Purpose!

From the Just the GOOD News! archives…

How do you use your faith? Being brutally honest, how do you consider it: as a heavy-handed, blunt-force-trauma-inducing club you only pull out when all your own best efforts have come to naught and you’re going under for the third time; or as a razor-sharp, finely-balanced precision instrument meant to be wielded by a highly-trained expert in his or her field? I think it’s pretty easy to deduce that if I thought the correct answer was that first choice, I wouldn’t have anything to write about today, so let’s just go with the second one, shall we?

We can all probably agree that where tools are concerned, the more refined, highly-calibrated and tolerance-sensitive an instrument is, the more particular its intended use turns out to be. In other words, it can’t be used just any ole way you please. It’s most effective – and, in many cases, is only effective – when used at the right time, in the right circumstances and according to the right application procedures (i.e., the instructions) for a specific purpose.

Royalty’s Realm

Okay, let’s start with the good news: As a son or daughter of God, you’re a king. (That’s right: king! God’s Word tells us that in Christ Jesus there’s neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female [Galatians 3:28]. In other words, in the Spirit absolutely no physical distinctions of any kind are made… between any of us. God calls us all His ‘sons’ [spelled, “c-h-i-l-d-r-e-n”], and as such we’ve all been made ‘kings’ [1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6, 5:10]. And if God calls you a king, then a king you are [Genesis 17:5; John 8:36; 1 Corinthians 15:10]. There are no ‘queens’. So get over it, ladies… and enjoy it: you’re kings, too! But I digress…) And as a king you’re vested with certain rights and privileges. For instance, whether you know it or feel like it or look like it or not, you’ve been given both authority and power. To do what? Well, what do kings normally do with authority and power? Just one thing: they reign!

When You “Don’t Care” to Trust

“Trust the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5 God’s Word Translation).

Most Christians probably know that verse of Scripture quite well – heard it a thousand times. Throughout the Bible we’re both encouraged and directed to trust the Lord, and we should certainly heed those instructions. But has anyone else besides me noticed that when you get right down to it, placing your total trust in someone – even if that someone is Someone – is not automatically the most “natural” thing in the world to do? And even more so if you can’t see them?

You know, now that I stop to think about it, ‘trust’ is one of those abstract terms that’s difficult to craft a precise definition for. Oh, I think we all have a sense of awareness about it, but actually expressing the meaning in descriptive terminology – without using the word ‘trust’ itself – is not quite as straightforward as you might initially think. Go ahead, take a few moments and try it – I’ll wait.