It’s hard for me to grasp anything unless someone tells me the bigger picture and connects the dots. Take math, for instance. My easiest math class was the first semester of geometry when the logic for the Pythagorean theorem made a whole lot more sense than the very abstract math of calculus. No one ever explained to me the real world application of calculus, and I was blindly plugging and chugging my way through equations without much of an idea of where it was all going. 

When the bigger picture is absent, I’m admittedly struggling. I realize when I teach my students I’m trying to always give them the bigger picture. Try telling college students how relative clauses matter in the grand scheme of their future careers. It’s a stretch, I know. 

Ultimately, whether or not students get the bigger picture or not, it’s about them trusting that as their teacher, I’m going to get them there. Sometimes I find that they don’t need the rationale as long as they know that I have their best in mind. 

I’m not always as trusting as my students when it comes to how I view God. I know THE bigger picture - that the kingdom of God will one day be fully established, but I struggle with the living that happens in between. I need glimpses of where this is all headed. But that’s exactly where faith resides - in the not knowing. And sometimes when God graces me with the hindsight of connecting the dots of past decisions made in faith, I am awestruck by their reverberations into the present. Let’s not discount the faith needed for today as we welcome the bigger picture from afar. 

The popular Christian understanding is that we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). On this point I do not disagree. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1) By faith we yearn for Christ's return, the fulfillment of all Scripture, and a coming eternity without sin or pain.  So what merit is there to walk by sight? For the anxious (yours truly) there is a tendency to conjure various untruths about what's not there, unleashing a type of paranoia. A downward spiral ensues, often accompanied by a sea of unproductive thoughts. Taking clear stock of reality is necessary to stem these fears. Separate fact from fiction. Refrain from entertaining what's not there. Cling to Scripture as truth. Cycling through these reminders keeps me grounded and choosing faith (oddly, as I walk by sight). 

Certainly, the outstanding point to be made here is that of faith. And when faith ultimately gives way to sight, what a glorious realization that will be!

I had a best friend growing up who happened to be better than me at everything. For so many reasons I wanted to be her. She was the essence of cool, and I was just trying desperately to follow. I knew for many reasons that I would never quite match her, but I could sure as heck try. All that trying left me disappointed, questioning why I had seemingly less to work with. It wasn’t fair. Comparing ourselves to others stops us from running the race that is set before us - one that is in plain view, but our unwillingness to journey it stops us dead in our tracks. I am still derailed by the ugly game of comparison. It can get me as far as questioning if God even cares about me (just the other day, in fact). Believing that lie is a slippery slope, leading only to self-pity.

Dear runners, let us throw off that sin that so easily entangles so that we may run this race with the endurance it requires! (Hebrews 12:1-2)

There is a tendency of mine to equate faith to a savings account, expecting my initial deposit to yield its return while doing nothing or very little about it. But with faith there is always something to be obtained for it to be the conviction of things not seen. Faith demands an active striving that I admittedly grow weary in. Didn't I muster enough faith in the past to be exempt from this present difficulty? There is a rest that remains to be realized, and as long as there is a "today," let us exhort one another to hold fast our confidence to the end.