“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1

When I left high school and home to head for Kenya, I was scared and unsure of where I was going. It was exciting to leave home and begin defining who I was, yet at the same time, I wanted to stay behind and repair some relationships that had only just begun to blossom. Like many young people, we often argue with our parents, grandparents, siblings, and guardians because we think we know better than they do. However, I also wanted to make amends for the pain and hurt I had caused my family, but I did not have the time.

The most comforting thing that pushed me forward was the reassurance of God’s Word: “I know the plans I have for you… plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11. Those simple words helped me understand that God saw the desire in my heart, and I knew then that I had to have faith in Him to make everything right. I had to trust Him, even in the most difficult and confusing situations, believing that He had a better plan for me.

Most often, when we walk through life with everything at our disposal, we praise ourselves. Yet when trials come, we lose heart because we were unprepared for the worst. I have always thought of faith as a mystery that needs to be investigated. The pieces do not always fit together like a puzzle, but you keep believing that somehow they will come together. A detective follows every clue in an investigation, trusting that each clue will eventually lead to the bigger picture. In the same way, I live my life in expectation of the bigger picture, even though I cannot see it yet. I believe God has called me to greater things than what I can see today. The experiences I have gone through, including the hardships and violations, are all part of a greater plan that I know God has for me.

I would like to encourage anyone who feels as though they are falling apart and believes there is no hope. Do not look at what other people have and assume they have it all. Instead, ask yourself: “What if there is something greater than what I see right now? What if there is more to my life than my present reality? What if I was meant for a greater purpose than this?” Pick yourself up and have faith in the impossible. Hebrews 11:2–38 reminds us of great men and women who, by faith, followed God’s voice and believed in His plans for them more than in the plans they had for their own lives. Moses, for example, “chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” Many followed in faith, yet “none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”

One last thing I would like to mention is my concern about the policies around us. In situations that could be addressed before they become more difficult, people often complicate the issues by examining them from every possible angle and analyzing them endlessly. It is important to understand these issues, but if we spend all our time debating different ideas, we risk losing the heart of the matter. Faith means looking beyond the immediate moment and considering the long-term consequences of our actions. If every solution to our contemporary issues is destined to fail because our leaders lack faith, then we will never move forward with conviction. The effectiveness of a project may not be felt overnight, but with faith, patience, and continual nurturing, its impact can be seen in the long term. Faith is believing in what we do not yet see. When we begin to see not only with our eyes and minds, but also with our hearts, we will find the courage to act, the strength to persevere, and the hope to move forward into the greater purpose God has prepared for us.

“For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: The time is coming, declares the Lord, when i will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant i made with their forefathers when i took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and i turned away from them, declares the Lord. This is the covenant i will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘know the Lord’, because they will all know me, from the least of them tot eh greatest. For i will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:7-12

It is amazing at how many truths the Bible holds, and yet we often try to come up with answers to questions we are absolutely clueless of. How many times have you had the New Testament questioned? How many times have you met people refusing to go to church on Sunday because they said God rested on the Sabbath? How many times have you found people stock in the Old Testament declaring other Christians to be at fault, because they have ‘supposedly’ missed one of the laws? When we spend time reading God’s word, we find answers to questions we have been asking our elders, those who found faith before us. 

Just because they found faith before you does not mean they hold the answers to all your questions. It clearly states in Hebrews 8:7-8 ‘For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.” God saw that the covenant written on tablets was easily abandoned and he knew he had to do something about it, if the people were suppose to walk in faith with him. If the law given to Moses in the Old Testament had no fault in it, God would not have had to make the New Testament. God saw that the law was powerless because it weakened by the flesh. The people did not remain faith to God and each of them turned to their own way. Hence he declared a new covenant.

Recently, I asked a man if he went to church, and he said “I used to, but stopped.” I asked him why and he said “The Christians have corrupted God’s law.” What do you mean? “I am a Roman Catholic and I have read the Bible and try to read it at least 2-3 times a week. When God gave the commandments, he said to respect the Sabbath, but Christians have declared Sunday to be the day of rest. Sunday is actually the first day of the week. The Sabbath is Sunday. God made the world and rested on the seventh day and declared it a Sabbath”. We talked some more, but the whole time I realized how little of God’s grace he knew and how little of the New Testament he knew. Not saying i had the answers to everything, but my heart cried out at the fact that he would deny fellowship with believers because one of the commandments according to him was not kept. 

Another thing that struck me was the fact that he was not able to accept grace. Why should God pay attention to people who crucified his son? He refused to have someone else take care of his sins and said he was responsible for the wrongs he has done. How could a man like that know so much about God and yet deny the hand that offers him freedom? 

The Old testament shouldn’t be disregarded, but it has been made obsolete, through the new covenant. “I will put my laws in tier minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their god, and they will be my people…For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” We are the ones who remember our sins and put ourselves in a prison. God offers much more than that. He offers you freedom through his son Jesus Christ. You don’t need to do good works, refurnish your life for him to accept you. He already accepted you when you recognized that you were a mess. You are the only one holding yourself back. Let go and take the hand extending to you.