Faith

           And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

          Most of the time, when I think about this verse, the idea that comes to mind is that it is impossible to trust God if one doesn’t believe in Him. I’m not saying that’s not true here, but I want to add to it what I’m sure I’ve said before – that faith must exist over time. Faith that only lasts a second may do good, but faith that lasts ten hours will do more good, and faith that lasts ten years, better still. Faith that survives a life time is the best.

          In other words, we not only need to trust God to be faithful in keeping His promises. We need to be trustworthy about keeping ours. When the going gets tough, we need to toughen up our faith. Turning to drugs (cigarettes, alcohol, pills of syringes) or finding another means of escaping reality isn’t being faithful. God isn’t impressed with our attempts to impress Him with momentary faith. He wants the real thing.

          The problem, of course, is that none of us is very good at the real thing. The easiest way to begin to learn to be faithful is by being faithful in little things and specific things. Are you faithful about money? Attending church? Going to work when you’re scheduled? Once you are faithful in one thing, you can add to it.

          But there’s another side of this. If you goal is to prove how faithful you are, or to work on strengthening your faith, then you may find faith itself becoming the thing that you have turned to instead of God. Being faithful to faith isn’t the same as being faithful to God. So, the better answer is to pray for faith – and thank God when yours is tested.