One day one of my sons taught me an important lesson about
faith. While I was shaving in the bathroom, my oldest son told me that he
needed money to take the train to New York and to have lunch while he was
there. After we negotiated the amount that he needed, I agreed to fund his
venture of the day. I was sure that he would come back into the bathroom where
I was shaving to confirm our agreement. But contrary to my expectations, I
received a text message about 20 minutes later informing me that he was almost
at the train station and that he would need the money that I had promised to
get on the train in a few minutes. Besides wondering how my dad would
have responded had I left our house without saying goodbye, I appreciated the
lesson my son had taught me about faith.
In his 21year old mind the commitment that I had made to him
required no further discussion. Without having any of the money that I had
agreed to provide my son had gotten dressed, left the house and made his way to
the train station. He was so sure that I would keep my word that he commenced
with his plans as if he had already received the cash. That is what I call
faith!
Faith is when we proceed with our plans without any
empirical evidence that our plans are possible. But our belief that our plans
have gained Divine approval and that they represent exactly what we should be
doing with our lives should propel us into the execution of our plans even
before we have what we need to accomplish our goals.
I once spent an entire summer in church speaking about
getting to the next level. I wasn’t quite sure what that meant for my own life
but I was committed to getting to the next level myself even as I served my
members. Little did I know when I ventured into this uncharted teaching
territory that God would use my younger cousin to contribute to my work and
take me to my next level.
Faith is having the capacity to take action even before
knowing that the action will yield results. Faith is setting goals even though
present circumstances suggest that nothing better will ever happen. Faith is
forging into the future although everything about the past argues against it.
Some people have challenged me about having faith in God.
Sometimes they will say “How do you know there is a God?” In response I will
say, “How do you know there is not a God?” Faith is choosing
to believe what you believe even if it makes no sense to others.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the
evidence of things not seen.” Former Congressman and Pastor Adam Clayton Powell
was famous for saying “Keep the Faith, baby.” I agree. Keep the Faith!
