Un-blind Faith
“After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people: ‘When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it.’”
Today’s Text: Joshua 3:1-8 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
What is the way that we have never been before? In a sense, we could say that the unknown way is the way into the future. But most of us, including myself, dive headlong into the future with only the past as our guide. We know that way.
The way that we have never been before is to trust not in whatever it is that we think we know but rather to trust in Christ and to follow Him into His kingdom.
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
— Philippians 3:13-14
I dive into the unknown future, not with blind faith, but with a faith that promises a glorious prize. That prize is to be
… found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
— Philippians 3:9
Like the apostle Paul, I long for that prize.
I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
— Philippians 3:10-11
Sure, “attaining to the resurrection from the dead” sounds great! But the process of getting there, not at all. Clearly, the apostle Paul never trusted in marketing strategies to attract people to the gospel.
But neither did Jesus. More than anyone, Jesus knew the glorious prize that lay ahead. “For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2b).
The Bible never says that a life of faith is easy. On the contrary, it tells us and shows us that a life of faith is not easy, and sometimes just plain hard.
But life is hard in general. Of course, life is hard often because of circumstances beyond our control—disease, disaster, death. But even if we could control those things, we might see that life is hard because of competing agendas.
Every person has their own agenda, because they are seeking after some personal prize. And people are generally willing to make sacrifices and also to struggle—that is to suffer—in order to attain their personal prize.
But the logic of faith is the following: There is only one prize that will remain in the end. It is the only one prize that is really worth the struggles we have to face anyway. Following Christ is the only way to get there.
Father, According to Your grace, we get to share in the blessing of life. We know that every blessing comes from You. Let those blessings not be my goal. Rather, let my goal be to know Christ according to Your word. When I struggle and even suffer in pursuit of being found in Him, may the vision of Your prize shine brightly before me. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
