Living in the Spirit
October 16, 2016

Scripture Reading: Luke 18:1-8

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.”’ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’

When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’ Strong’s concordance indicates that faith is always a gift from God*. It is a gift given to all. I doubt if many perceive of faith as a gift from God to accept or not. I wonder if faith in God appears on most of our wish lists. If it were possible to post the gift of faith on a resale site, would we see if we can sell it for something better? Is that rather like what we do as we search for gods of our own making?

Faith includes the attribute of confidence necessary for our successful journeying through life. I am a basketball fan. It is not unusual to hear a commentator talking about a rookie player having to gain the confidence of his playing before he fully develops as a seasoned professional. How much of our flailing through life results from our failure to engage God’s gift of confidence included in the package of faith?

Faith is the source of God’s divine persuasion* that channels us through rough waters as well as seemingly harmless stagnant pools. God brings together our desires with God’s insights to strengthen our growth and development as we strive to attain God’s purpose and our own which somehow become the same.

On Jesus’ return if justice is not the rule of the land, he surely might wonder what happened to all the faith he gave us.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for your gift of faith that enables us to be sources of justice in our world now. Amen.

*http://biblehub.com/greek/4102.htm

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized 
Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council 
of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights 
reserved.