Walk by faith

i had a full day today.   but not the normal kind of full.

at north point this morning,  i spoke about the difference between walking by faith  and walking by feelings.  

you and i can either grow accustomed to listening to our feelings,  impulses,  and circumstances…and letting them control us…or we can be in the habit of simply taking god at his word despite our feelings and life experiences.   we need to choose with our wills to believe that his word is truer than our feelings.

but in spite of how influential the daily circumstances of our life journeys are in defining our faith,  it’s really the bookends  of our lives that signal what our belief is all about.

what we believe about conception and genetics and birth speaks either to the genius of the mind of purposeful and powerful creator…or the emptiness of natural selection.

also,  how we go about facing the end of life  (our own included)  and the mystery of the death process and afterlife is a defining characteristic of a life of faith…or a life defined by nothing more than nihilism,  fatalism  or some other ism. 

today,  i got to experience both…and come face to face with what i really believe.

my new grandson,  nolan,  came into the world today…and i got to have my belief that life is more than a random  accident affirmed in a personal way.   although i don’t really subscribe to the whole miracle of birth  thing  (seems a little silly to ascribe “miracle status” to something that happens with such predictable regularity),  the affirmation of the creation process is always overwhelming to me.

on my drive home from the baby hospital,  i stopped by the hospital close to my house to see my friend jim,  laying nearly lifeless in the ICU,  his body organs shutting down…a shell of the man he once was.   i got to speak with his daughter,  jamie and his wife,  linda…and see and hear their confidence and trust in the god of life…and afterlife.   my own faith powerfully affirmed for a second time in an hour.

faith is simply taking god at his word and believing his promises are unchangeable.   mystical?  a little,  i suppose.   but in the end,  it is totally objective.

will you choose to walk by faith this week?

#death #faith #life