We Walk By Faith

So we are always of good courage. 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. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.  2 Corinthians 5:6-9

On August 3 1492, Christopher Columbus departed Palos de la Frontera on a voyage of discovery, the goal being to discover a Western route to the Orient.  He set out with three ships, heading in a direction in which no one had ever journeyed before.  But Columbus was confident as he set out because of his complete trust in God’s guidance and protection for him in the journey... Each morning at dawn, the crew would pray as one of them would chant a prayer, asking that God would bless and guide them in that day.  Columbus once wrote, “You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”  Four times Columbus would cross the Atlantic Ocean and return under the care of His gracious God.  Later in life, he wrote, “No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Savior, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service.”

You are on a journey on which no one has ever been before.  No one can fully understand what it is like on your journey.  There may be those who are sympathetic.  There may be those who can relate.  But no one has ever truly taken the same path that you have.  This means that we are all traveling paths as yet untrodden.  There are days when the journey is dark and foreboding and we are not sure how we can continue.

St. Paul knew such days.  He had experienced all kinds of hardships and afflictions in his journeys.  Stoned, shipwrecked, attacked and abused, slandered and nearly slaughtered.  Paul had experienced more than his share of difficulties as he journeyed through life.  But in our epistle reading, He says, “We are always of good courage” not once, but twice.  After everything that he had been through, Paul could speak of good courage because he rooted this good courage in faith in Christ.

We walk by faith, not by sight.  Trusting in the faithful promises of God.  That is what gives us good courage.  That is what leads us on in the journey.  We trust not in ourselves and our path, but the God who sent His Son Jesus on the path to the cross.  He is the reason for our good courage.  He is the sum and substance of our faith.  He has promised to lead and guide us until we reach our eternal home with the Lord.  By God’s grace, may you continue to walk each day by faith in Christ until your journey’s end.

Prayer - Lord God, You have called Your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that Your hand is leading us and Your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Fraternally in Christ,
President Lee Hagan