Devotions with Nell Ritchey

Martin Luther King, Jr. is quoted as saying, “The God whom we worship is not a weak and incompetent God. He is able to beat back gigantic waves of opposition and to bring low prodigious mountains of evil. The ringing testimony of the Christian faith is that God is able.” 

I believe that Dr. King makes an important point – faith is only as good as it's object. Put your faith in a broken chair, and you may end up sitting on the floor. Put your faith in a faithless friend, and you may end up in a much worse position than sitting on the floor. Put your faith in God, and you’ll end up imbedded in the Kingdom of Heaven – a kingdom that arrived on earth at the incarnation of Jesus and will be completed when He returns again. In the in-between times in which we live, we are required to keep the faith.

Hebrews 11:1 gives the world’s best definition of faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (ESV) And in verse 6 of the same chapter, the writer tells us that “…without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” And there in Hebrews 11 we find a chapter full of people who acted in faith. Things didn’t always turn out great for them on this earth, but the end result was beyond great.
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The Character Training Institute tells us that “Faith is confidence that actions rooted in good character will yield the best outcome, even when I cannot see how.” To me this means that if you and I consistently do “the next right thing,” we can have complete confidence that God is in charge of the end result, and it will be amazing!
 
Blessings!
Nell Ritchey