In yesterday’s reading, faith was defined as obedience to God. Faith in this light is a commodity. “I’ve got more faith than you!” “I was at wit’s end but had enough faith that I knew God would look after me!” “Oh, God, help me to have more faith, so that I do not have to worry so much.”
In this present reading, faith is not so much a possession as a trust in something we cannot hold onto, nor have completely now. To have faith is to understand in one’s heart that, through Christ, something even more wonderful is promised in God’s “kin-dom.”
Still, faith in this sense also enables us to see God’s presence around us right now. The Spirit opens us to possibilities of Creator working in and through us and through others. Through faith, we hear God inviting us along on the journey. Creator opens before us a myriad of ways of serving, witnessing, learning and worshipping.
So we can go forward into the future and amid the present in faith.
Faithful God, inspire in us the wonder of faith now, even as we hold on to the promise of that time to come. Amen. — MHD