“We Walk by Faith”

     Writing a devotion can be rewarding, educational, and challenging.  It can even get to the point of being downright frustrating.  But, like many of the tasks and commitments of life, there’s no question that it still needs to be done.  There are times when thoughts, ideas, scriptural references, and general inspiration are so elusive that it seems there’s nothing to say.  Then a quietly, persistently, comes a thought: “Why not try listening?”  Of course!  It was right there all along, but I wasn’t seeing it.  Now is the perfect time to be refreshed, renewed, and centered by listening. 

     Times such as these leave people feeling uncertain and afloat without direction.  Finding comfort, confidence, and reassurance in God’s Word grounds us, reminding us that times of fear and loss are not without hope.  The many writings to the early churches speak of hardship, persecution and uncertainty, followed by statements of faith and confidence in God’s love and care.

     For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.  For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”  who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

     But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.  We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.      (2 Corinthians 3:5-10)

     Reading the words of the Apostle Paul, I try to visualize a small group of early Christians, a church, who gathered in humble homes, listening to these powerful words of assurance of the power of God’s love.  Notice the reference to God as creator as the one who shines in our hearts, giving us the knowledge of God’s glory in Jesus Christ.  Humans are fragile, breakable, and yet have been entrusted with the powerful treasure of the Gospel.  The life, death, and resurrection of Christ is the source of strength and perseverance, and even as these words strengthened the early Christians, they are here for us today.  

     So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight.    (2 Corinthians 5:6)

     As Christians, we are people of hope.  We proclaim hope, we live in hope, we are examples of hope.  Best of all, it’s not all up to us, because, as we listen to the teachings of our Lord, we hear the promise that our hope will be fulfilled.  

Reassured and confident,

Your friend in Christ, Mary Rogers