Faith & Insight: Walking by faith

We walk by faith, not by sight.

I have four children and some of my favorite memories are watching them walk for the first time. I remember seeing my son David walk at 7 months. I was alone with him and no one believed me when I told them. That did not stop me from bragging, though. He ended up not walking again until he was about 10 months old.

My son Josiah walked later than the other kids. He watched everyone walk and studied how they did it for a while. Then one day, he stood up and ran across the room. He then ran almost everywhere he went.

I think God gets proud of us when he sees us walking. The Bible says, “…We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). This can be intimidating. We don’t always know how sturdy that ground is, but we know God has called us to walk on it. I imagine the harder the circumstance, the prouder God is.

God looks down and sees the fear we have as we continue to put one foot in front of the other. Just like we do with our young toddlers, God reaches out his hands to us and encourages to keep moving forward. At first, we might only be able to go from one piece of furniture to another, but as we gain confidence we can start traveling out into the middle of the room. The further we go, the less fear we have and the more confidence God gives us.

Look at how far you have come. Each of us are traveling on this faith walk. Some are way ahead of others, but it is the same path. God is guiding and encouraging all of us. Some days we can walk miles and others are more difficult. But every day, God is there to guide and encourage.

Keep putting one foot in front of the other. For some of us, it comes naturally and we can walk early in our faith and others are little slower to start but then run right out there. It does not matter how big our stride is if we are walking that faith walk with Jesus; we will all arrive at the right place in God’s perfect timing.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me (Psalm 23:4).

Capt. Mark Cyr is pastor of the Salvation Army, 911 E. Second St., Carson City, Nev. 89701. For information, go to carsoncity.salvationarmy.org.