African Top Knot, used here for the lack of anything else, though she does have something of a contented, faith expectation about her. Click for larger view.
I was musing again, as often, on what to do next. When I’ve got a commission it’s not an issue, or a to-do list that won’t quit. Then I know what to do. And, often as not, I’m wishing I could get beyond all that so I could “do what I want.” But then, when that moment comes, I wonder what that would be.
Interesting dilemma, no? So human.
So I take it to God, to get beyond the “human,” and he says, “Believe.”
Believe? “Yes, just believe.”
Believe what?
“All you know. Me. That I’m here . . . am all you need.”
Like that.
Sounds a little . . . what . . . too basic . . . too lofty?
Both?
Then I remember that belief is both the entry qualification to the kingdom as well as the basis for the highest activity in it.
But I want to do things, big things, important things, useful things, legacy things. Or, if none of those, at least “something.”
To all that, God just says, “I know . . . it’s all very human. But just believe.”
And then phrases come to my memory like:
He who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
And . . .
The work of God is to believe on the one who he sent.
And . . .
Abraham believed God and it was his highest attribute.
I remember the list of the heroes of faith who believed til the end of their lives without seeing the culmination of their faith and are not only credited for it, but were defined by it (and, by the way, often ended up doing “big things.”)
How are we different?
So believe, Hyatt. Just believe.
It’s the unbeliever that gets befuddled.
I know, I’ve been there.
I’ll take it as today’s word . . . and believe it.
_____________
Hebrews 11:6, John 6:29, Genesis 15:6
Our Lives Together
Its About Life
11:59 am
Soo good.
12:47 pm
It sounds so simple……just believe!! However,
I do not find it easy at all!!!
Hyatt, after all these years (coast bible church) I re-met
your Allison, Sunday evening at a meeting.
What a delightful, fun personality she is!!!! You must
be soooo happy to have her here! Your granddaughter looks
just like she did!!!
1:03 pm
If I don’t believe, I don’t get God or satisfaction from any of the above. If I do believe, I get God, the source of all satisfaction and, more often than not, much if not all of the above. I think it was C.S. Lewis who shot this thought my way in “Mere Christianity” back in the 70’s, and it’s stuck. That one word can restructure an entire life! Your entry is disturbing, Hyatt… in a good way.
8:49 pm
I love how you are steadily earnest and compelling in simplicity to the point of being radical. Just like the Gospel. :-) A great secret to effectiveness!
6:07 am
Wonderful Hyatt!! A strong concept, full of force and purpose. Yet, so easy to do. So freeing. A direction to go It encompasses so much more. Faith, Hope, Life itself. Believe. A comfort word too.
Writing from Lomita, CA this morning. :-)
8:23 am
I like the reference to Hebrews 11 (that great chapter of the “Heroes of Faith”). I have been thinking about this passage recently . . . actually it is one that I come back to frequently in my “musings”. At the end of the chapter there is a shift from those who did “BIG things” to those who were flogged, stoned, destitute, deserted, afflicted, mistreated…we get the picture. And to top it all off, they are unnamed ! I wish I could be in the first half of the chapter . . . . The struggling of “walking by faith (belief)” for me is that sometimes I feel like I am doing all I can to NOT be in that last part of the chapter, in a word, to stay SAFE, with plenty of margin and comfort. At least enough to say that I am a respectable disciple. At the VERY end, the pasage says, “And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” As I read it, this “something better” is a reference to Jesus and the coming indwelling of the Spirit of God. Our recent sermons have been on the Ascension (God is FOR us – Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding FOR us) and on Pentecost (God is WITH us – the indwelling of the promised Holy Spirit). Praise God !