By Last night, I had the pleasure of hearing Mark Batterson speak at my church. He is an amazing author. He said some things that made me think and even to this morning are still making me think and process. I know, that means it was a good sermon right? So todays blog is going to feature a bit of what he said and some of my own application.
Faith is taking the first step before God reveals the second step- Mark Batterson
We have so many high and lofty definitions of what faith is, that sometimes we forget about the practical and easily described way of thinking about faith. How often do we tell God “just tell us where You want us to go and we will go” instead of allowing God to just have us take that first step. God does not give us a detailed plan of where we are going and how we are going to get there and what we are going to do when we get there. For a planner like me, it drives me a little crazy to not have a specific plan from God of what to do next, I am not sure how you feel about not getting a plan detailing all the steps. But then, I think about the steps that God has called me to take in my own life, and I would not have even imagined that the first step I took would lead me to where I am. If someone had asked me a year ago as I was starting a new journey if I thought I would be where I am now, I would have probably laughed at you and said impossible. The last 12 months of my life have been filled with steps that did not make sense with each other and I am sure there are people that thought I was crazy.
Taking the first step when you don’t know the second step is a bit crazy in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of most people of faith. They all assume we should have a 5 year plan and stick to that plant get where we want to be. What happens when where we want to be does not line up with where God has called us to be? The 5 year plan ends up getting thrown out of the window and we take one step at a time to where God has called us. Truth be told, I think if God told us where He was leading us, many of us would not start the journey because we would determine that it was impossible to get there, or that the plan is not going to work, or the end goal is so big we can not even wrap our minds around all that God wants to do in us.
What if we trusted God enough to take those first steps without knowing the second? Do we really think that God would lead us down a path that is bad? Do we forget who God is in that? Do we not remember that God is good? So yes, I am sitting here with even more questions going through my mind, and my heart saying, take the first step, its ok to not know what the second one is. So for me, there is a first step I am going to be taking, what about you? Is there a first step that you have been waiting on? Are you ready to take that first step and see where God is leading?
