Grown-Up FaithSample

 The Bible has one clear, overwhelming message. Our heavenly Father loves us more than we can know. He’s the opposite of the heartless, cold, distant, or mechanical being people often assume him to be. He created us in his image, and we were made to connect with him at the heart level in authentic love. It’s not the syrupy, selfish interaction our culture calls love. Real love is based on truth and it is proven through trust. That’s evident in marriage, parenting, friendships, and careers. Truth and trust are foundational for relationships.

Humankind broke God’s heart when we chose not to trust him. When we disregarded God and disobeyed him, we broke God’s trust and severed our relationship with the only one we had every reason to trust. Adam and Eve believed Satan’s lies about God, and we as human beings continue to do the same.

To have the bigger life, we need to reestablish our trust in God. That’s how we develop a grown-up faith. We must learn to trust his truth with our minds, trust his goodness with our hearts, and trust his ways with our will. It’s never more than this and it’s never less than this. There is no greater secret to be discovered elsewhere in the Bible—in the life of Moses or King David or the prophets. There is no added insight from Jesus that shifts this focus to something else. And reading through the rest of the Bible and seeing how the parallel events play out in the history of the church reinforce this insight. 

Grown-up faith is always the convergence of trust in the mind, heart, and will. The deeper your trust is in all three areas, the more your faith grows. It starts with trust in Jesus for your salvation, and then continues as you trust God for the transformation of your mind, heart, and will.