Thought for Today
Psalm 37:3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.
Matthew 9:29 Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith let it be done to you."
Luke 8:48 He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace."
“In God we trust, official motto of the United States, adopted in 1956, and placed on all U.S. currency beginning in 1957. The phrase replaced “E pluribus unum” (Latin: “Out of many, one”), which had been the country’s unofficial motto since the 1780s.” (www.britannica.com)
Recently, I wrote about separation of church and state. “Our Constitution includes the Bill of Rights; and, the First Amendment of that Bill of Rights states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...” (en.wikipedia.org) I do strongly support our Constitution. I also, however, am aware of that motto. I remember the words of our Pledge of Allegiance, including “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Where do you put your trust? Whom do you trust? In the television series Pacific, one young Marine, when asked what he believed in said, “I believe in ammunition.” Is it possible to believe in God yet not to trust in God? If we profess to believe in God, how is it possible not to trust God?
In the Greek of the New Testament, the words translated as faith and trust are often the same word, πίστις (pistis). My lexicon offers “belief directed toward a person or thing confidence, faith, trust, reliance on.” A related word, πιστεύω (pisteuo) means to keep faith. These words appear hundreds of times in the Bible.
Most of us don’t spend too much time in our daily lives pondering about faith and trust, asking constantly, “Whom do I trust?” Yet all of our lives are filled with examples of trust and faith. Every time we flip a light switch, we trust that the light will come on. Dependable electricity is ubiquitous in modern life in developed countries . . . most of the time.
Greta and I spent 70+ years living in and around Houston, Texas. We trusted that almost anywhere we found ourselves in the greater Houston area, we could easily find a road we knew and thus find our way home. We trusted, had faith in our familiarity with the highway network and the layout of the major thoroughfares. We understood the grid of that familiar city and the surrounding counties. Then we moved to New England! We very quickly came to trust and have faith in our GPS. Our trust and faith were usually rewarded. But, without that GPS, we would have quickly become hopelessly and helplessly lost.
As a Christian, I have a GPS for life. That GPS is not a computer; it is not a device. I have faith in the Bible. I trust the Bible. I believe the Bible. Without my Bible, I would become hopelessly and helplessly lost in navigating life. Without my faith, I would become hopelessly and helplessly lost in navigating life. I know the truth of Paul’s words, “Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—”
When I become lost in the confusing byways of life, tangled in life’s intricate web of choices and options, I remember those words of that Marine in Pacific. I too believe in ammunition. The ammunition in which I believe is provided by my Bible. That ammunition is bolstered by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. That ammunition strengthens me and guides me to witness my love for God and for all of God’s children.
I put my trust in my Creator God, the author of the universe, the creator of all Creation. I have faith in God’s Son, Jesus the Christ. I put my trust in the revealed word of God, in the Bible. I understand that the Bible is my textbook for life. Just as I still have my college chemistry textbooks and some of my thermodynamics textbooks, I have my faith textbook. Just as I once studied all of my STEM textbooks, I still study daily my life textbook. God has revealed to us in the Bible, in the Incarnation of Jesus and in the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Stay safe, read the Bible, trust God,
Pastor Ray