Faith = Confidence

I Thessalonians 3:5

For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith.  I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have tempted you and our efforts might have been useless.  NIV

This is a continuation of the point that I looked at yesterday.  Paul is writing to the church at Thessalonica, which he has been unable to visit.  This was the verse that I originally found yesterday when I was searching The Message for the word, “worry.”

Paul says, “That’s why I couldn’t quit worrying; I had to know for myself how you were doing in the faith.  I didn’t want the Tempter getting to you and tearing down everything we had built together.” MSG

Everything we had built together …

Over the last several months, God and I have been hard at work.  I have learned so much.  I have grown so much.  I have needed this time to glimpse a corner of the plan that He has for me.  I don’t yet have all of the pieces of the puzzle, but, I am firmly grounded in Him … more firmly, perhaps, than I have ever been.

And yet, Paul points out that these kinds of experiences can be impermanent.

I don’t want that.

I don’t want to be disrupted and upset by the potholes that I find in my path … I don’t want to be stymied by the boulders that I might find there, either.

Instead, I will stand firm in my faith.  I will rely upon God.

Henry Blackaby says, “Faith is confidence that what God promised or said will come to pass.  Sight is the opposite of faith.  If you can clearly see how something can be accomplished, more than likely, faith is not required.”

Faith = Confidence.

That’s what I’ll think about today.