“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).

Confidence in what we hope for…
Assurance about what we do not see…

See, that’s the problem with faith!!!

My confidence is in what I know. My assurance comes from what I see.

That’s why faith is so hard.

Before we launch a massive capital campaign that will absolutely stretch the Little Church, I want to know where the $12,000,000 to $15,000,000 is going to come from! Before we launch into a massive building project, I want some assurances that we will grow and fill the space that we are building.

I want more than hope. I want a sure thing.

But, that’s not faith. No faith is required for a sure thing. It’s precisely when we can’t see the end results that faith is required.

What Phillip Yancey writes about faith is helpful. He writes, “faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse.”

God is in this thing. God is leading the Little Church. God’s got this. And, when it comes down to it, that’s all we need to know.

“They will look on the one they have pierced” (John 19:37b).

One of my favorite bible stories as a child was the story of Peter walking on the water. Besides Jesus no one other than Peter knows what it’s like to walk on water. As you all know, Peter was walking on the water but as soon as he took his focus off of Jesus and on the waves and the storm around him he began to sink. Jesus needed to rescue him.

I love that story. Because that’s how life sometimes feels. Everything is going well and then a phone call, an email, a note, an encounter and all hell breaks loose. And we begin sinking.

That’s the way faith works. When our focus becomes anything other than Jesus, we begin sinking.

Jesus is our only and our absolute hope. The great reformer Martin Luther said, “When I look at myself, I don’t see how I can be saved. But when I look at Christ, I don’t see how I can be lost.”

I love that.

“They will look on the one they have pierced.”

Life is hard? Look at Christ.
Life is difficult? Look at Christ.
Life is confusing? Look at Christ.
Life is painful? Look at Christ.

The One hanging on the cross is none other than the Son of God who is there on your behalf. There is nothing under heaven which Christ would not do to ensure your place in God’s kingdom.

Look at Christ.

“All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

No one likes to be rebuked. No one likes to be proven wrong. No one likes to be corrected.

Yet, if we want to grow and we want to mature in the faith, that is exactly what we need. Here’s the reason why – because we are all imperfect. We are all sinful and selfish. The only person who doesn’t need rebuking or correction is a perfect person. And since no perfect persons exist, it follows that every one of us needs regularly to be rebuked and corrected.

That’s what God’s word tells us. God’s word is God-breathed and is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.

So, if you go to a church where you are never rebuked or corrected – something is wrong. If you go to a church where all you get is rebuking and correcting – that would be depressing. But, if they are preaching the word of God, the word of God is teaching, rebuking, correcting selfish sinners to be more like Christ.

So, if your church sometimes says things that you don’t like and you disagree with, thank God for that. If it is from scripture, we are the ones who need adjusting.

Let us all aspire to be trained in God’s word so that we may be thoroughly equipped for every good work!