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Category: Faith and works

  • Faith Matters

    Faith Matters

    Let’s talk about faith. I recently overheard a conversation in a coffee shop.

    A couple of fellows I didn’t know were having an animated discussion. One of the men said, “Who needs faith? I’ve lived my whole life without it.” 

    His friend replied with a sarcastic “Amen!” From the little I heard, it was clear that they were making fun of a mutual friend or acquaintance.

    They continued for quite a while, mocking anything to do with faith or religion, before moving on to some other topic.

    I wanted to (but didn’t) ask how they were managing to sit or drink their coffee. The chairs hold them up, but only their faith in that fact allowed them to sit. 

    If they didn’t have faith in the chair’s safety, they never would have sat down. They had faith that the coffee cup wouldn’t suddenly break and pour scalding liquid on them; otherwise, they never would have picked those cups up.

    We have faith that we’re going to be alive in the morning or we would never set our alarms. We have faith that we’re going to be alive for the evening meal or we wouldn’t plan the menu.

    Whether we recognize it or not, we all have faith in something. We simply couldn’t function without it. Even the most ardent atheist has faith, not faith in God but faith in many things.

    Faith Matters

    Faith is critical; without it, our lives would fall apart. 

    Even more critical, though, is where you place your faith. If all your faith is in personal relationships, you are going to get burned at times because people and circumstances change, and you will eventually get hurt.

    If all your faith is in your wealth, you’ll worry about the value of your investments and while you can be wise and diligent about your investment choices, you could lose it all.

    If your faith is in science, you’ll be shaken as new discoveries throw out old “facts”. 

    If your faith is in your own wisdom and abilities, you’ll be destroyed if those things are taken away. When all my faith was in my abilities and I suffered my brain injury, my whole world collapsed. Only coming to faith in Christ sustained me.

    You can’t live life without faith. More importantly, your eternal destiny depends not only in faith but in faith in the right person.

    There is only one unchanging place to put our faith, one true eternal hope. That place is Christ. 

    Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.  Hebrews 13:8

    You may not understand all you are going through in life, but if your faith is truly in Christ, a you know that He will bring you through it. 

    Faith matters. 

    Faith in God matters more. 

    Faith in Christ matters for all of eternity.

    Until next time, may your faith be grounded in the Living God, through Christ by faith. Everything else is vain hope.

    Be blessed
    Kevin


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  • Mountain Time – thoughts on stewardship

    Mountain Time – thoughts on stewardship

    A cliff face in Manning Park near Skagit Valley Trail - some thoughts on stewardship

    Late last week, we took a road trip to Manning Park for a walk along the Skagit River Trail. We needed some fresh air, some mountain time, and a touch of snow (but not on our streets or driveway). It’s just over an hour’s drive away, so it’s relatively handy.

    I find that when I get out in nature, it often clears my head (as well as my lungs) and helps me “see and hear” God more easily. I took this shot of a nearby cliff face from where we parked. Even through the haze, it’s beautiful.

    That mountain has stood there for a long time. It looks as if it will still stand there for a long time. Yet the face is slowly changing. Erosion and rockslides are subtly recarving the face. We live in an area prone to earthquakes and with active volcanoes; either could totally transform the mountain.

    Even the things we consider rock solid don’t last forever. We live in a broken world that is destined for destruction. The day will come when even the mountains and the oceans will burn up.

    “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”  2 Peter 3:10

    If everything will be destroyed, why bother trying to preserve any of it? Humankind was put on this little blue planet, third from the sun, to steward it.

    And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Genesis 1:28 

    “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Genesis 2:15

    We have been appointed to a God-given task to steward a part of His kingdom. Its eventual disposition is in the hands of the owner, but in the interim, we manage it until His return. 

    I’m reminded of the parable of the talents (or minas) where the master gives the servants responsibility for a certain sum, and there is an accounting when he returns. (Matthew 25:14–30, Luke 19:11–27)

    How well will we fare when the master returns and we face a review of our stewardship? Not well in general.

    I’m not suggesting we all become earth worshippers; that’s a sin. Simply that we could all make small changes to be better stewards.

    What are your thoughts? Have you ever compared our stewardship to those parables before?

    Be blessed

    Kevin

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    All contents, “Gleanings From the Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2026 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, “Gleanings From the Word.”

    Unless otherwise noted, “Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved

    From Gleanings From The Word (Kevin Corbin, 2001– ), a Scripture-based devotional work.