To Believe 3.01.2026

But god so loved, and this is the engine of all belief. We do not believe because we're shamed into it. That does not work. I don't care what anybody says. We do not believe because we're frightened into it. That too does not work. It's not authentic faith. We believe because we are loved into it, that we are cared for, and that we know that we are an irreplaceable part of the story of God. [00:48:03] (40 seconds)  #LovedIntoFaith

Nicodemus expects an answer, an explanation. Jesus offers him an invitation. Abram receives a promise, and he responds by taking a step. Belief is not checking a theological box, it's entrusting yourself to the god whose love has gone before you and surrounds you and fills you. Belief is allowing God to remake you, and belief is saying yes to the possibility that your story, no matter how old you are or how young you are or what you've done or what you've left undone, your story is not finished yet. [00:48:59] (49 seconds)  #FaithIsTrust

Later, he speaks up cautiously in Jesus' defense. And after the crucifixion, he helps to prepare Jesus' body for burial. He becomes a part of the story even though in chapter three of John, he's not quite there yet. Faith can grow slowly. Sometimes faith begins in the night with more questions than answers. Sometimes belief takes decades of a story unfolding in our lives. And sometimes belief feels like trembling steps rather than taking one triumphant leap after the other. [00:46:34] (45 seconds)  #FaithGrowsSlowly

Lent is not about beating ourselves up. It's about opening ourselves up. It's about hearing God whisper go. It's about hearing Jesus say be born anew. It's about discovering that the night does not get the last word in any of our stories. Abram was 75. Nicodemus was established in the religious community. Neither of them were at the beginning of anything. And yet, god says to them, begin. [00:50:39] (35 seconds)  #GodSaysBegin

It's not too late to begin, not too late to trust, not too late to follow, not too late to become new because the God who calls you forward is the God who loved you first, and love always makes a way for a new beginning. God so loved you that he gave it all to make sure that you are with God forever. You didn't do anything to earn it, and you can't do anything to change God's mind because everything God has planned is rested on the firm foundation of love. [00:51:14] (66 seconds)  #NeverTooLateToBegin

So for Abram, like this beautiful lady, God promises. And God's promise is fulfilled in not her time, but in God's time. Not Abram's time, but in God's time. And that's what belief is when God calls us to believe. Is the Greek word. It's not an intellectual kind of belief. It's a belief that I so trust in God that I'm going to go forward not knowing where I'm going, not knowing the destination, but knowing that God is leading me. Not perfect understanding, but movement, taking that next step. [00:45:05] (57 seconds)  #TrustGodsTiming

There are times in life when we quietly wonder to ourselves if we missed our chance. Missed the chance to change, missed the chance to trust, missed the chance to become who we who we were meant to be. Maybe we tell our selves that it's too late to go back to school, to learn something new, too late to repair a relationship, too late to answer a call we once felt stirring in our spirit, too late to begin again a journey with God. [00:27:40] (42 seconds)  #YouCanStartAgain

It's easy to make a simple answer and to say, you know, you know, you do this this way, the way I tell you, or you're out. But can you find in the gospel any time where Jesus does evangelism that way? I can't. What Jesus does is he finds ways to invite people into relationship, and that relationship in and of itself transforms lives, opens minds and opens hearts and opens eyes so that people can see, not only see what is around them, but see who they truly are as a blessed and beloved child of God. [00:37:32] (51 seconds)  #InviteIntoRelationship