Hebrews 11:23-31
Faith stories in the Old Testament sound so practical. Hide the baby
in the bulrushes. March around Jericho. Walk through the Red Sea.
But it’s difficult to imagine what we would do if the Voice called
on us today. Like when my father moved our family from Dallas 40
years ago to the then malt-shop-and-twin-cinema-town called Sugar
Land. I jumped from a school with 200 students to 2000, certain only
of doom and plunder. That is, until I grew up and discovered that
the move led me to the best friends of my life.
Faith pushes our comfort zone and moves us into the unknown. God calls us to be what Paul terms the “stewards of God’s mysteries” (1 Cor 4:1). We might as well be Star Trek’s Captain Kirk exploring strange new worlds. Patience is prescribed.
How do we act on faith? Adam Grant, organizational psychol-
ogist at the Wharton School, offers a remedy for those frozen by
uncertainty: Don’t overthink, take action. “You don’t have to wait
for fear to fade before you take the leap. Taking the leap is how you
conquer fear.” That puts faith in our modern context. We take short-
term steps knowing we’re moving toward God’s long-term goal. It’s
like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s definition of intelligence: “The ability to
hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain
the ability to function.”
If you’ve been sailing, picture your boat changing tack. While
aiming for a distant shore, you zig-zag across the water. We don’t
have to make sense of the whole course to set out. We’ll likely change
tack and our thoughts many times along the way. Each length of our
journey is an accomplishment to relish, thanking God as we go.
Consider
What steps could you take today to move closer to God’s purpose, even if the ultimate destination is not clear?
Pray
God, you have called us to move forward, and we thank you for that call. Help us take the next steps, ever closer to where you need us to be. Amen.