Good morning, friends.
Our verse for today comes from Acts 10:8, “And having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Joni Eareckson Tada said, “Faith isn’t the ability to believe long and far into the misty future. It’s simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step.” Many have said that God gives just enough light for the next step. There certainly seems to be some connection between information and faith. Faith can be acting despite its absence, or going to the extent of what you know and hoping for more to come. But in that great chapter of faith found in Romans 4, Paul explained what Abraham believed and how he acted and what it all meant for him and means to us. While Hebrews 11 describes faith as the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, Paul explains what faith looked like in the life of Abraham. Verse 21 says, “Being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.” For Abraham, and for us, it was not necessarily about how far he could see or stepping out into the great unknown. Rather, faith meant knowing what God had said and promised and believing He would keep His word. It may have included becoming the father of a great nation, or it might have meant having a child when you’re well beyond child-bearing age. It could sound like pack up your family and go, or include the details of raining fire and brimstone to destroy a perverse people.
For Cornelius, it looked like receiving instruction from an angel and doing what he was told. But, oddly enough, when Cornelius had to relate everything to his men to send them out, there wasn’t much to explain. He knew whom to seek, with whom he was staying, and where. But for Cornelius, that was everything. I think the problem for too many of us today is not that we need to hear and know more from God to bolster our faith and courage, but that we need to realize just what and how much He has already revealed to us. It’s not so much “if I only knew” or “if He would just show me.” No, information is not the issue. The ears and eyes of our heart are the problem. We won’t listen to what He’s already said. We won’t direct our eyes to what He wants us to see. He’s done and given us everything we need to be faithful. Now we need to go and be obedient.
As we seek Him today, act on the faithfulness of the One who gives you faith enough in Him.
Have a marvelous weekend.
#4 Rich Holt
Dad of Ripken, Koy, TrishaJean, Samantha, Kakie Holiday and Raleigh
Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them.
