Each year at this time I look to write something that seniors like you can take out the door and head into your new world.
I had a chance one morning this week to go for a long walk and think on what you could most use. As I walked I thought, “What would your mom and dad most want you to know?”
That led me to this question:
As you move on in your life, will you choose faith or will you not?
It’s not a question that you can just not answer or figure you’ll get to later. You’ll answer it every morning the minute your feet hit the floor.
You may have lived on your parents’ faith for the first 18 years of your life. That was a good start, but that won’t take you where you need to go. As you move on, that faith is going to come up against some mighty big tests. Everybody’s does. But it will only stand up if it’s your faith!
So it’s your choice: Do you choose faith or not?
It recently dawned on me why some people choose to follow the Lord and some don’t. There is within all of us either a will to believe or a will not to believe. Some choose not to because they can’t seem to wrap their minds around the Bible’s teachings.
Oh, there’s plenty of biblical, historical, literary, scientific, and archeological evidence to support faith in the Bible; but if a man doesn’t want to believe, he can find enough evidence otherwise to talk himself out of it.
In your case, though, I’m sure it’s not so much a decision to believe or not to believe in the Bible and the man from Galilee, called Jesus. It’s more of a decision to live it or not to live it. Right?
You understand that tough decision. That’s what it comes down to. To live it is going to make you choose not to go to some of those parties and hang out with some of those friends and do some of the things that many of the people around you are doing.
That’s the tough part. Faith, you see, isn’t just a thought hidden away in the back roads of your mind. It’s something that sits right there on your front porch for everybody to see.
In a way, faith is a funny thing. Sometimes it feels strong, and sometimes it needs life support. You understand that, too. The good news is that even the greatest of men experienced doubts. Remember Abraham, perhaps the greatest man of faith who ever lived? His faith grew so weak on more than one occasion that he told some lies that could have caused a massacre had God not stepped in!
So why was he a great man of faith? I think it’s because of this: In all his life, he never lost his will to follow the Lord. You see, he chose faith even when he didn’t quite live up to it. He skidded off of the road from time to time; but he always got out and pulled his life out of the ditch and got it back in gear.
To be able to keep yourself out of the ditch, you’re going to need some help. The best short piece of advice I can think of comes from Lee Strobel in his classic book, The Case for Faith. As he talked to an older Canadian preacher named Lynn Anderson about faith, he asked the old man for a good place to get faith started.
Mr. Anderson answered that a person needs to surround himself with the right things: the right people, the right reading materials, the right influences. Then he made it real:
“After all,” he said, “if you want to grow roses, you don’t buy an acre at the North Pole. You go to where roses grow well.”
Ah, there’s the key.
Young seniors, you’ll make many decisions as you head out the door to make your way in the world, and you’ll go to many places. But wherever you go, make sure of this:
Go to where faith grows well.
Sincerely,
Steven
Readers may contact Steven Bowen at steven.bowen@redoakisd.org
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