“Faith is…substance…and evidence.” Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11:1 is one of the most fascinating verses in the Bible when it comes to describing faith. Paul, Hebrew’s author, says that Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. I’ve shortened the verse above to the critical point that’s being made. Your faith is by definition “substance and evidence”. Not of something tangible that you can hold in your hand or see with your eyes but believing beyond what you can touch and see. When you have the faith that the intangible is very real your eyes will open to what Jesus spent His time on earth teaching us. That God loves you beyond your imagination and has a plan for your life. That you are a critical part of history on this planet and that heaven is cheering you every step of your journey. What you see as insignificant in your day to day life may in fact be life changing for someone, somewhere, and at some point. Example, a nurse in an orphanage teaches a little boy about Jesus. That boy becomes an evangelist and millions accept Jesus as their Savior. That singular act by the nurse changed history, and may in fact have been God’s plan for her life. You see,

Only God Can Define Success.

Stop looking at your circumstances and judging your life by measuring it against your neighbor or society and start looking into the eyes of God. Let Him lead and let Him Guide you. For as a pastor friend recently said to me “I don’t want to get to the end of my life building a great congregation only to hear God say “that’s not what I called you to do, you just were not listening to Me.” I’ve had the same thought a time or two which is why for the past twenty years or so I’ve prayed a very simple prayer every morning. “Father, whatever you have for me today, I am truly grateful.” Of course the attention grabbing headlines each day in my life are easy to spot, but I try to take the time watch for the simple and the ordinary, for those simple and ordinary things may just be what God really wants me to pay attention to. For one day I may touch one seemingly ordinary life who then goes on to change history. Give it a try. You just might be the critical link in the chain that changes the world.