Faith and a Latte
When I get up every morning, there is hot coffee in my coffee pot. The reason for this is that every evening, before turning in for the night, my husband gets the coffee ready to perk and all he has to do in the morning is push the button. I tend to sleep a bit longer than he does so it is generally ready. On the off chance that I do get up before him, all I have to do is push the button and quickly it is ready and hot. I have complete confidence that when I get up in the morning, I will have hot coffee. I guess you can say I have faith in my morning coffee.
Having faith is one of the great choices we get to make on a daily basis. One common way that people use the word faith is to refer to belief in something despite lacking any evidence for it. I have complete faith that I will have hot coffee in the morning. I do have evidence for it, though, because it is usually ready and I see my husband prep it the night before. Unfortunately, there are times when my sweet man “thinks” he put it together, yet there is nothing in the pot when I get up. Sometimes there is water and no grounds. Sometimes grounds and no water. Sometimes no pot, and then there is just a mess.
The closest that the Bible comes to offering an exact definition of faith is Hebrews 11:1 – “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” From this particular passage we see that the central feature of faith is confidence or trust.
So, why do we need to have faith in our great, grace filled, God? What’s the big deal anyway? This is really a tough one for nonbelievers and young Christians. What does this trust in Christ look like. I think even the mature Christians sometimes struggle with faith and what it looks like to live in this trust on a day-to-day basis.
Through this blog we have learned so much about God’s great grace and how we can and do receive it. It simply is God’s mercy to us, always, and always free. This is the reason we have faith. We have faith in a God who will always be graceful and merciful. Since we know this, we can enter into faith simply because our God is so full of grace that he died for us on a wooden cross with his arms outstretched and nails pounded into them. He hung until he suffocated, trying to hold himself up so that his lungs could continue to fill with air, all the time bleeding from a spear wound in his side and gouges to his skin for being beaten by whips with tips made of bone and shards of rock.
You see, we can trust in all Christ has to give us in this unrelenting world because he chose to die so that in the end, we would live. We can have a faith in a God who wants us to live with him for eternity. We can trust in a God who is going to walk through situations with us, whether good or difficult. We can have a confidence that in our struggling, or sin, or celebrating, we will have a God who will be right there with us. Faith is just that, it is trusting in this God we cannot see, but having confidence that we will be heard and seen by Him. Romans 1:17 it is written, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.” (CSB) Because we live in this crazy, strange, evil world, we are sinners. There is nothing we can do about that. We will and do sin. We never won’t sin. WE ARE SINNERS, darn it! BUT….. because we have Christ, (remember the description above?) and because we choose to believe in Him, we are forgiven. What Romans 1:17 declares is that we will be delivered from sin and the death that comes with it, because of Jesus Christ. This is revealed to us when we have faith in Christ and what he will give us through faith. He will give us eternal life with him in a place so magnificent that we can’t even fully imagine it.
Now, because we have this faith in Christ, we can appear righteous in front of God. Not because we are anything special. Not because we are magnificent, and beautiful, and graceful, but because Christ is and he chose to make us righteous by dying on the cross. Our faith and trust in Christ will bring a hope and joy to our lives like we have never known. Our confidence in Christ will give us the power to carry out our lives in strength and courage. Ephesians 2:8–9 says, “By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” God's grace is the gift we get through faith.
This is THE GOOD NEWS of all of the gospel! The reason we have faith in this God who died on the cross is because we are forever saved from death. We are forever saved from living in a sinful world that will consume us, but in the end we will live in victory.
Take some time today with your latte, or coffee, or chai and really consider Christ’s death on the cross. If you are new to this faith and belief in Christ, take time to read the Gospel of John to really learn about Jesus’ life and his journey to reveal God to all of us.
Our faith should be ever increasing. We should continue to stay in the word once we understand the gift that has been given to us. We should continue to be in thanksgiving and praise for all that Christ has done for us so that we can live a free life in him. We must continue to be in prayer and discussion with our Father throughout the day, listening to his Holy Spirit and he speaks to us.
Our faith should continue to grow “from faith to faith” (Romans 1:17); from the time we first believed until the time of our passing onto the great day of being with Christ.
Our God loves us despite the fact that we are sinners. His grace is free to us even though we continue to mess up. It brings me to tears each time I consider just how awful I can be and yet He hung on a cross for me. Praise the God of this world!
My faith in my morning coffee is so great, but my faith in a God who loves me more than I could ever imagine is so far above anything else.
Enjoy your morning routine whether it be coffee or uncoffee, juice or water, and take time to think about your faith and the God who loves you more than you will ever imagine.