Yet Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s recently challenged my reality: “We have lived and believed too strongly the idea that it is possible, by considering all possibilities in advance, to make life so certain that it then happens completely automatically.  Only too late have we learned that the source of action is not the idea, but readiness for responsibility…Our being Christian today will consist in only two things: prayer and in doing justice among people.”

Is this what I hope for–to spend my days in prayer and doing justice for others?  Sure, I might pray in desperation.  Or what if the motivation of my prayers is to ensure that my life falls in line with my plan?  If I’m praying at all, that is.

So if I’m trying to control and seek certainty, what does that reveal about my idea of faith?  Faith is defined as “(1) fidelity to one’s promises; (2) belief and trust in and loyalty to God.”  Scripture also reminds us, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

Often Christians are mocked for such faith–“It’s blind.  You’re weak and not intelligent if you believe that.”  I would argue that it is certainty.  And I want it.  Yes, I have it, as a believer.  But I want to live with it as a daily confidence.  Daily, moment-to-moment assurance that above all else that God IS who He says He is and He has fulfilled His promises.  Faith is choosing to believe that what God has said is true now and forever.