In need of a (re)new(ed) faith?

Welcome to today, 2023. What we have is today. Yesterday is a memory and tomorrow is a hope or possibly a fear.

How do you feel about the future? Be honest.

Everyone has a measure of faith. I can prove it to you. Do you take something for a headache? Do you understand how it works or why it works? I’ll confidently wager most of us don’t. We have faith it will work based on our experience. We took the aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, and our headache went away. This is a simple example, but we live lives of faith daily. Can you imagine living with no faith? Going to bed every night and seriously considering morning would not come or gravity would quit working?

What isn’t universal is the object of our faith. Followers of Jesus put their faith in Him. Followers grow in faith based on the experience of walking in humble obedience to His teachings and a growing deep relationship with Him. Jesus uses terms like "no faith," "little faith," and "great faith" in the Gospel narratives of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the New Testament. We don’t gain great faith by ignoring those things Jesus asks us to do. Our faith does grow as we trust Him with things in our lives bigger than we can handle. Seeds of faith are small, but small seeds can grow into very large trees.

Faith is the enemy of fear. I’ll prove that too. Did you ever have or see a grade school bully? Did you see or have a protector from the bully? A powerful protector eliminated the fear of the bully. Why? We were confident the protector would keep us from harm. We had faith in the protector. In our growing personal relationship with Jesus, we learn we can trust Him to protect us with those truly important things in life.

Hope springs up from the germination of that seed of faith. Hope is important to life. Hopelessness is a terrible pit. My article next week will talk about hope.

If you want to explore that seed of faith in you, if there’s a ray of hope, read the Gospel of John. If you don’t have access to a Gospel of John. Stop by North Summit Church and I will give you a free one.

Bud McConnaughey serves on the staff of North Summit Church, 201 N. Division, Sandpoint. If you want to know more about Jesus Christ and His hope, contact us www.northsummit.com . We’ll be glad to help you or refer you to numerous local congregations and pastors in Bonner County.