Stepping out before you know how it all turns out—that’s what faith is all about. But many Christians embrace the false notion that it should be easy, or at least simple. And if it’s not, God isn’t in it.
But when we look at Scripture, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, there is one thing we know we will encounter every time we change direction in life—resistance.
So you want to step out in a new life direction. But you’re afraid. That’s normal. Fear often keeps us from moving forward. What if I showed you the steps needed to move forward with clarity, confidence, and abundant faith to live an authentic life adventure?
First let me acknowledge that I did not follow all of the steps I am about to share with you—not intentionally anyway. Some I had to learn the hard way.
Do you know where you are headed next in life? Do you know where you should be headed next? If you’re like a lot of us, you may have accidentally fallen into a life direction instead of intentionally choosing your best path.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, it shouldn’t be that way.
God created each one of us with unique strengths, passions, and skills sets. He gave us each unique relationship connections that open doors of opportunity unavailable to others.
And He expects us to use it all to more fully reveal His majesty on earth as it is in heaven.
Because of our natural human fixation on “the seen,” we tend to think only of the impact of our story in this brief season of our existence: the here and now.
Although that impact is not unimportant, as immortal beings we should be far more concerned with how our story will sound when it is told there and then, in that next season of existence that will extend through all eternity.
In spite of recent events and rulings by the United States Supreme Court, truth still matters for those seeking to live authentic lives of abundant faith. When our beliefs are focused rightly, faith can move us to live a story worth telling. But when our faith falls for propaganda, our story inevitably suffers for it.
Os Guinness, author of A Free People’s Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future
The sad fact is that without truth and virtue, those who proclaim freedom and set out to do what they like often end up not liking what they have done.
Truth causes faith to thrive, while propaganda always destroys in spite of false hope, good feelings, and the best of intentions.
Yet how often do we engage the source of truth? Jesus himself said that the Word is truth. It claims to have all we need to equip us while out on the trail following Him. But do we use it?
Sacrifice. It’s not a popular word. It never has been and probably never will be. But to those who desire an authentic life, the kind of life that produces a story worth telling, sacrifice must become a way of life. Faith is the stuff heroes are made of.
This past weekend in America, we celebrated Memorial Day. We set aside a day to remember the fallen, those brave men and woman who served in our Armed Forces and gave their last measure of full devotion — but why did they do it?
I would suggest most did it because of what they believed to be true, most definitely in spite of what they saw, sensed, or felt. For readers of my new book A Story Worth Telling, that explanation should sound familiar — it is the very definition of faith.
What if there were magical prayers you could pray – a few mystical words you could chant in order to make your story matter. Wouldn’t that be cool?
Well there isn’t. Not really. But Moses may have provided us with something better.
Psalm 90 reveals the the cry of Moses on behalf of God’s people. Now I’m not proposing that we take his prayers out of context or treat them as some secret incantation. For example, the prayer of Jabez is a worthy passage that has been stretched almost beyond recognition to justify asking God for whatever we may want. Let’s not do that with these simple prayers from Moses.
Someday, you will tell your story. You may tell it here and now in this life or there and then in your next season of existence, after you have “shuffled off this mortal coil.” But it’s going to happen. The question is: will your story be worth telling?
Whether or not your story will be a good one will depend on one thing – your faith.
I don’t mean your commitment to organized religion or your ability to describe a conversion experience in vivid detail. We Christians are good at assuming our story will be good because we once said a prayer to secure a spot in heaven someday. I’m not talking about fire insurance.
I’m talking about faith – doing what you believe to be true, often in spite of what you see, sense, or feel. Faith is what writes your story and determines whether it will be a story worth telling.
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