Sept 21st, 2020: Being Confident While Not Knowing
One of the best compliments we can get in our relationships with others when someone says to us that "you are such a faithful friend". We remember our loved ones who died because of their faithfulness. So faithfulness becomes a landmark of who we are with God and with one another.
In Hebrews 11:1, it says, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."
Somehow there is a correlation between hope, confidence, and faithfulness. What am I hoping for as a Christian? I certainly don't think it is an easy life because of the nature of my faith. My hope rests on the freedom I have to express the convictions of my faith. Someone asked me recently a question about my stand on terminating life in a mother's womb. I shared my conviction based on the belief that life begins at conception, and science has no business to authenticate the beginning of life. She told me that I am going against the majority of Canadians. I told her I expect that I sometimes will make a decision that goes against the majority because of my faith.
I am confident in who God is and not in whom I am while learning to live out my faith. The same confidence in how the early church began. It is the confidence in the historical Jesus and how God has chosen to redeem the world through Him. It is not obnoxious confidence but an enduring one. With that confidence, I believe that all suffering will end, and we will have the opportunity to be with God fully as He desires. I am confident that God will continue through people to express His love and concerns for the world. There is a more important battle that is happening around the world today, and it is not an economic or military, but a spiritual one.
There seems to be so little assurance in our society during the last few months. We don't seem to have confidence in our health official authorities. We don't trust our political leaders. We doubt the sincerity of some people who protest for racial equality. We don't feel assured by the messages we heard, and we wonder how to discern the truth. Our assurance is based on the fact that God has been true to us. We walk through in between knowing and not knowing, trusting in the promise that God is with us.
