Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. (MLK, Jr.)

Since we just spent some time with Martin Luther King, Jr., and we have looked at the trustworthiness of God, then perhaps we should marry the two together and look at this quote by King regarding faith.

Often we use faith and trust interchangeably but they are different. Primarily, faith is a noun while trust can be used as a verb. But the two do work in tandem. Our faith in something or someone allows us to trust that thing or person. As a number of writers have noted, “Trust is faith in action.”

One secular writer, Christopher Hitchens, would have us believe that faith is extremely dangerous. He writes, “Faith is the surrender of the mind, it’s the surrender of reason, it’s the surrender of the only thing that makes us different from other animals.  It’s our need to believe and to surrender our skepticism and our reason, our yearning to discard that and put all our trust or faith in someone or something, that is the sinister thing to me. … Out of all the virtues, all the supposed virtues, faith must be the most overrated.”

However, I would argue that all of us place our faith in something, and that Mr. Hitchens, himself, has placed his faith in his own intellect. Others might place it in their power or position. Others still in their wealth or their leaders. And I doubt any of them placed it there as a “surrender of the mind . . . [or] reason.” In fact, they most likely placed it there because it has worked for them before. They entrust their life and their future on their faith in their (insert one of the above.)

Yes, the Bible says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). The future is unforeseeable. Though we might anticipate what might be coming, we can never be sure it will occur until that day actually arrives. But once again, I would argue that people place their faith in what or who they believe will be able to handle those “unforeseen future events.”

King’s quote suggests that we do not go into the future blind. We see some of the steps of the staircase. As a Christian I believe these visible steps are twofold: first, they are God’s past faithfulness upon which we have built our trust; and second, they are His Word, which is “is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105), providing us guidance and direction.

Any faith that has nothing at all to support it is a weak faith indeed.

Maybe Edward Mote demonstrated the very real and concrete foundation of our faith in God through the first line of his now famous hymn: “Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.”

Trustworthiness is a big word that means you can count on someone––that their word is good.

I am blessed to have some very trustworthy friends and an incredibly trustworthy family. How do I know this? Because they have been true to their word. When they have said they were going to do something, they did it, so I now know I can count on them. It seems a person can only become trustworthy by proving him- or herself over time.

It is the same with God. Personally, we will only know how trustworthy He is by allowing Him opportunities to be trusted. Fortunately, we don’t have to come at this blind, or without anything to hang our hat on. We have an advantage as the Bible is chock full of examples of God being true to His word. Some, like the following, we are probably very familiar with.

God kept His word to Abraham that he would have a son in his old age, that from his offspring He would make a great nation, and that he would inherit the land of Canaan. All three transpired.

Joshua was promised the defeat of Jericho, and it was fulfilled. God promised Noah that he and his family would be saved from the flood, and they were. God promised Gideon victory over the Midianites; it happened with only 300 men who never raised a weapon.

These are only a few of the many Biblical stories demonstrating that God is indeed trustworthy. But there was a catch—maybe two. First, each of these individuals had to be willing to trust God, to believe the promise He gave them, and then to show that they did, they had to obey what He asked of them.  

So yes, God IS trustworthy. Time after time after time, the Bible recounts the promises He makes and the fulfillment of those promises. Yes, He is worthy of our trust. He has never broken a promise.

However, in order for each one of us to experience His trustworthiness we have to act individually. We too must give Him opportunities and situations which require us to take Him at His word, and then we must step out and obey.

So let’s do just that.

Monday is Martin Luther King Day, a day (this year his actual birthday) to honor Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

Much has been said about the man, about his leadership during the Civil Rights movement, about his untimely death at the hand of an assassin, and about his flawed character. Having taught both his famous “I Have a Dream” speech (of which most of us are familiar with only half), and his lesser known “Letter from Birmingham Jail,”  I am most in awe of the persuasive power of his words.

So today, I would like to share a few of his lesser known quotes that I think all of us would do well to consider. There are well over 200 quotes attributed to Dr. King, so choosing just a few proved to be quite a challenge, but here are some of my favorites.

Love

Hate is just as injurious to the hater as it is to the hated. Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Many of our inner conflicts are rooted in hate. This is why psychiatrists say, “Love or perish.” Hate is too great a burden to bear.

He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.

Courage

The true measure of a man is not how he behaves in moments of comfort and convenience but how he stands at times of controversy and challenges.

Cowardice asks the question – is it safe? Expediency asks the question – is it politic? Vanity asks the question – is it popular? But conscience asks the question – is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.

Spiritual

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.

The end of life is not to be happy, nor to achieve pleasure and avoid pain, but to do the will of God, come what may.

God is not interested merely in the freedom of black men, and brown men, and yellow men; God is interested in the freedom of the whole human race.

And my favorite:

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.

Okay, so this might sound like a very selfish way start to the new year, but my focus for 2018 is going to be on me. I want not only to look at but also to claim the promises God has made to me (and you). Promises about love and forgiveness, about security and significance, about purpose and peace.

But there’s a problem. Believing in promises is born out of a relationship of trust and we live in a world that erodes trust. It doesn’t take much. Lies, partial truths, and even the omission of important information undermines trust, and so we become weary of having our faith broken and wary of trusting others. This in turn makes it difficult for us to sometimes trust God … especially with the important issues.

I can remember very clearly a situation in which I was having a trust issue with someone, and God, loud and clear, said, “Jody, you’re trust issues aren’t with ______, they are with Me. You don’t trust me to have your best interests at heart. ” Which was true. I didn’t trust God with the situation. I knew what I wanted, and I felt the only way to insure that was to somehow control it.

But no matter how much I tried to know everything I needed to know to feel secure and at peace … I couldn’t. I wasn’t omniscient. And that sliver of information I didn’t know still created doubt, which then created anxiety and worry.

Therefore, the place I have to start in order to take God at His word (and perhaps you do as well) is with believing in His trustworthiness.

So I guess it isn’t all about me . . . It’s really all about Him.