Faith - More than Just a Day's Work

I've been receiving the Episcopal Relief and Development Daily Lenten Reflections and reading them as part of my Lenten discipline. You can sign up for receiving the reflections via email here. You can download the whole booklet as a .pdf file here. I find resources like this one to be a simple but regular way to think about my faith and pray each morning.

Today's reflection is based upon Jesus' statement in Luke 18:8 And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Jesus poses this question to his disciples following his commandment for them to pray always and not to loose heart in verse 1.

The author of today's ERD reflection points out that

Faith is a long and sometimes difficult conversation with God. There isn’t anything we can say to God that will break that relationship. Over time, it becomes part of us; we come to understand that human beings have faith the way we have toenails. God just is, in our lives, and we come to know that we do not exist apart from that being, whether we understand it or not.

It's interesting that many people have to "know" about something to believe in it. Answers and logic are more important than questions and doubt. The essence of faith according to the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews is "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

I'm one of those people who check each day to see how much money is in my checking account. That practice gives me some reassurances about how much money I have to spend. I don't think that this behavior is necessarily terrible but I'm not sure it's how I should approach my faith. God's love and presence doesn't rise and fall like the funds in a mutual fund, or a 401-K. Faith in the abiding presence of God should provide a sense of unconditional shelter that any secular security cannot offer us. However, we have to check-in with God over time lest we loose our sense of God's abiding care. It's not always clear that God is present but it's in the routine process of seeking clarity overtime where God does manifest God's presence in spiritual ways beyond the limits of uncertainty.

Blessings Along The Way,
Jim+