Follow-up to Pastor's message from Sunday, July 4th, 2021

 

 

Issue Number 120 | July 6, 2021

 

 

Test Your Trust in God

 

Trust God in a New Venture

The Fifth of Six GROWTH practices: Go, Read, Obey, Witness, Trust, Humble Yourself

 Another phrase for Spiritual GROWTH is Spiritual Formation. My focus is on making the basics of such formation as practical as possible.

 One way is learning to trust God. Everyday life teaches lessons of trust for believers as they learn to accept what appear to be bad things happening in their lives, their relationships, illnesses, and financial insecurities. They learn new levels of trust. The phrase “Let Go and Let God” is a good summary of the life of faith. Call this passive faith.

 Active faith is learning to trust God in a new venture. It’s the kind of trust Abraham, in the Genesis story, had when he heard God’s call to take his only son Isaac up into a mountain to make a sacrifice, only to find out the sacrifice was supposed to be his son. This was the son through whom Abraham was supposed to become the father of the great nation of God’s people. Killing him made absolutely no sense at all, especially given the promise God had early given. Yet, knife in hand, he was ready to do the deed. Having passed the test, Abraham then heard God tell him to halt, and instead, God provided a sacrificial lamb. This is active trust, greater than the passive trust called for in ordinary living.

 How strong is your passive faith? When have you tested your active faith?

 

 

 

 

About the Author David S. Luecke is a pastor and psychologist with high-level administrative experience. He has been a pastor for thirty years on the staff of Royal Redeemer Lutheran Church in North Royalton, Ohio. His degrees are an M.Div., an M.B.A., and a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior, and he taught in academia for twenty years. He can be contacted at dsluecke@aol.com.