Faith: What's Holding You Back? (Part 1)
So I have a question for you: How is trust built?
Answer - The trustee proves themselves (usually over time) to be trustworthy.
When it comes to establishing trust there is a level of conviction that the individual will follow through with what is asked.
So here’s a harder question: How do you exercise trust?
Answer - You relinquish control to the trustee at some level of risk.
Building trust requires some level of risk. The bigger the risk, the faster and stronger trust forms. Think about the people you trust in your life and you will see you share a strong bond with those you are convicted will come through for you when there is some level of risk involve.
But can you say the same about God?
Many of us grew up hearing stories, whether through the bible or through testimonies, about how God has proven Himself to be trustworthy. Some of us may have witnessed first-hand how God came through for a friend or even for ourselves, but the question remains: do you trust him?
Consider this example:
We treat God the same way we would treat Blondin
We are convinced that He is capable of doing what he says, and like Blondin, some of us even witness His greatness, yet when it comes down to relinquishing our control and trusting Him, we hold back. When everyone saw Blondin cross the rope, they were watching in anticipation wondering if he would fall to his death or safely make it across. Blondin not only crossed, but he also did so several times and performed amazing feats while out the tightrope. The crowd believed he could carry people across. They saw him do it. They had faith in him, but when it came down to them relinquishing control of their life and placing it in this man they couldn’t do it.
Please note that their level of faith didn’t change. The only thing that changed was now they had to exercise that faith by giving up control to Blondin.
To be honest, most of us wouldn’t go.
Do we really have faith, if we can't exercises it?
Let’s change up the circumstance. What if your child, wife, or loved one was mortal danger on the other side of the falls and only you had the power to save them. Would you let Blondin take you over then?
Most of us would let him take us. Our level of conviction didn’t change or suddenly grow. The missing ingredient to our faith equation was motivation. In that scenario where already convinced that Blondin could do it but now we are motivated to make it across... so much so we would risk everything even our life.
What are you willing to risk to reach heaven?
Stay tuned for part 2!