As a Christian, I understand that Abba God wants me to live a life of faith. But just what is faith? I often find that when I'm seeking to understand fundamentals in my relationship with God, I learn most by turning to a resident expert, my grandson, Justice.
You see, Justice lives a life of faith. He walks in faith all the time. I first realized this when Justice and I were at a kiddie park. There was a small slide, and Justice felt so accomplished being able to climb up the few stairs and slide down on his own. But then he saw an older boy climb the stairs and run down the slide, and he determined to do the same. When he reached the top of the slide, I held out a hand, intending to grasp his and help him run down.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he threw himself off the top of the slide in my direction. I realized that he had interpreted my outstretched hand as an invitation to come. Without any hesitation, Justice completely abandoned himself to that invitation, totally trusting that I would safely catch him. In that moment, the Lord quietly spoke to my heart, "Ché, this is how I want you to trust Me all the time."
After that, I began seeing many examples of Justice’s life of faith. The moment Justice sees me, his whole face becomes a smile, and he runs toward me, yelling "Papa!" He fully anticipates that I'm just as happy and excited to see him, for he has complete confidence that he is important to me and that I love him. If I'm eating something that he wants, he reaches for it persistently with his mouth open, convinced that I will share. He has no doubts that I will answer his request.
When I give him a present, Justice has no difficulty receiving it: He tears off the wrapping and starts playing right away. He accepts without questioning that I want to give him good things. His total trust is the best gift he could ever give me. It warms my heart and motivates me to love him all the more.
Our Abba God is a good and loving Father who wants us to totally trust His love for us. All too often, we hesitate, aware of our failures, convinced He can’t possibly be excited and overjoyed to see us. Abba God repeatedly reassures us to "fear not." Yet despite the fact that it is His good pleasure to give us life in His Kingdom (Luke 12:32), and to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19), we often doubt that He will say yes to our request.
Our timidity and uncertainty grieve Abba God's gentle and loving heart. He longs for us to abandon ourselves to Him, totally trusting His promises and resting securely in His acceptance of us. If we forget how to do this, we need only observe the resident experts around us: young children, who naturally live a life of faith. "Calling to Him a little child, Jesus put him in the midst of the adults and said, ‘Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become as little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of God’" (Matthew 18:2–3).
Come join us this Sunday at 9:30 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. I am beginning a new series on "Reaching the Harvest." My first sermon is titled "The Harvest Is in Your House."
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