Real Faith

I have enjoyed studying the life of Abraham for the past few weeks. His faith in God has been an inspiration throughout church history. His faith also helps to shape our definition of faith. After journeying with Abraham through the twists and turns of his life, I have learned about his faith and come to understand my own faith journey a little better. I have a lingering question or maybe it's a comment. It seems that much of our faith is contingent upon an outcome. By that I mean that our faith is attached to what we want to happen. We have faith in God in order to receive things. I don't mean to suggest that we shouldn't trust in God to provide blessings in our lives. It is clear that God rewards those who believe as described in the two parts to faith in Hebrews 11:6. Part One: We must believe that God is. Part Two: We must believe that God rewards those who earnestly seek Him. However, we do tend to get the proverbial cart before the horse. As a result, faith that is attached to the reward more than the "Rewarder" loses its foundation and grows weaker rather than stronger. I have seen this play out in many different ways. A faith that is anchored and deposited in a personal God is not threatened by unexpected outcomes. In fact faith in God feeds our perseverance through the unexpected.