Threshold of Decisions

Anytime we are standing on the threshold of decision, whether that decision is a major or minor one, we’re often making those decisions based on what many refer to as faith. It is assumed that such faith involves us taking obedient steps forward, often, into the unknown. Like Indiana Jones’ leap of faith in the Last Crusade. Indy, however, is relying more on what he knows to be true, rather than jumping blindly into the unfamiliar. It just might be that faith is the reality that enables us to see. If so, then such faith would make it possible to grasp what waits before us or to understand what lies behind us.

In Hebrews, Paul describes faith as a way of living. He says that while it cannot be denied, faith also cannot be render into something tangible. Ultimately, such a definition of faith would require great sacrifice on the part of anyone who would choose to live it out. If faith is a mode of life rather than a blind step we take here or there, then what others might perceive as failure, or a step backward, could actually be an example of one’s faith being lived out.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that we have this perception that true faith never looks back, and always moves forward, trusting God with the unknown. But what if it takes just as much faith to step into what we actually know and can see? And what if that involves us stepping back from the threshold we now stand before? Many would interpret that as having no faith at all. However, it is my understanding that the examples that Paul gives in Hebrews were all acting on what they knew, could trust, and could see. If that is faith being lived out, then stepping back into what I know and can understand is also a great leap of faith.