FAITH

By Nick Kalb

Story

How messy is your room? Has it ever been so messy that your parents got mad? Did you promise to clean it later? Did you live up to your promise?

My bedroom was the worst room in the history of bedrooms. I used to love throwing sticky things to the ceiling to see how long they would stick. I LOVED pickles, and would leave empty pickle jars around as trophies to how many pickles I could eat. I created a fort in my bedroom so HUGE that you needed to crawl on your hands and knees just to get in! My mom would first ask, then demand that I clean my room. I always found some “important” reason why I couldn’t do it right now, but would do it later.

This one time I managed to keep my room fort going for 6 months, the whole time promising to clean it when I was able. After months of me failing to keep my promises, my mom finally came in and destroyed the entire thing! I was mad, but couldn’t argue with my mom being upset. After all, I had broken trust with her by not doing what I said I would.

Do you know what “faith” means? The word “faith” is one of those words that sounds super churchy, like “worship”. Faith isn’t that hard to understand though, it just means “trust”. When we talk about having faith in God, we are talking about our trust in Him.

Bible

Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. In all your ways remember him. Then he will make your paths smooth and straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

We know that no one who depends on the law is made right with God. This is because “the one who is right with God will live by faith.” (Galatians 3:11)

Think

I failed my mom’s trust in me, but we can always trust God. Faith is our trust in God’s promises to us. When we trust in what Jesus came to do for us, we get to be with Him for eternity and even get to be called God’s children (John 1:12) Our trust in God gives us power to do big things with Him too(read all of Hebrews 11!). Having faith in God helps us to stay close to Him when things are hard, and even when there are things about Him we don’t understand. I didn’t always understand what the trusted adults in my life were talking about, but I listened to them anyway because I had faith in them. As I got older, I began to understand why they said or did the things they did. But until I was old enough to understand, I could always use my faith in them to do what they told me. It’s the same with God! We are saved by trusting in God, and we live the life He wants us to live by trusting Him too.

Do Something

What do you know about God? Sit down with your parents and make a list about the things you know about Him. It’s hard to have faith in someone we don’t know, so (parents) take time to use the Bible as a reference. Make a list of 5 things! Can you find examples in scripture?

Pray

Dear God, I want to know You more. Help me to trust the things that you say. Strengthen my faith, so I can do big things! In Jesus name I pray, amen.