The Canvas of Tomorrow Sample

History often looks inevitable from the rearview mirror, but when people make decisions in the heat of the moment, they never know how things will turn out. We may assume, Well, of course, we won World War II. But in the first part of the war, we and our allies lost every battle and were pushed back from every front. Nehemiah didn’t have any guarantees that the leaders who would receive the letters from the king would give him enough materials. He had no idea how the people of Jerusalem would react when a member of Artaxerxes’ Court showed up and tried to lead them. We know the rest of the story, but it’s instructive to put ourselves in Nehemiah’s shoes and realize his actions required enormous wisdom and courage. In the same way, our big decisions require enormous wisdom and courage from us.

Some of us have an incomplete understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. We think that if we obey, He will make things smooth, easy, and pleasant. I would ask anyone who is operating under that assumption to read a bit more of the Bible! The chronicle of faithful people in Hebrews 11 shows that all of them faced opposition, threats, ridicule, deprivation, and death, but they kept trusting God to do what only He could do. That’s why they’re heroes of the faith. When Jesus invites us, “Follow Me,” where does He lead us? To marvelous miracles and life-changing experiences, yes, but ultimately, to the cross where the right response to His love is to give everything we are, everything we have, and everything we hope to be to Him and let Him sort it all out in His great wisdom and timing.

Through it all, faith is revealed in many ways. Sooner or later, we make bold choices to take action and trust God to do great things. Some people believe that if they have enough faith, God will do everything while they remain passive. That’s not the picture we get of a faith-filled life when we read the Scriptures and see the lives of men and women who have wholeheartedly followed God! We should never pit faith and action against each other; they are a necessary combination of a Spirit-empowered life. They don’t compete; they complement.

Some of us want God to provide all the resources for the vision before we’re willing to take the first step, but that’s seldom how God operates. At other times, God does provide all that’s needed, but He holds the resources in reserve until He has prepared us, and only then are they released. Far more often, it’s like driving on a two-lane road at night, and He gives us only enough light to see the next turn in the road.