Constant Faith

Scripture Texts: Genesis 1; Hebrews 11:1-3; Hebrews 1:10-12

God spoke and creation came into being. There is something profound and majestic about creation while at the same time there is something simple. God spoke and it happened, there does not seem to have been any heavy lifting, or major construction projects, it just happened.

Wouldn't it be great if that is how life worked for all of us? All we would need to do is speak something into being. No extraordinary effort, in fact no effort other than spoken word. This would mean for a great and faithful marriage all we would need to do is speak those words and it would happen. Just to be clear this is not how it works. Building the marriage that we desire requires work and effort, far more than simply speaking words of perfection. Along with this work we need to live in complete faith of the one who spoke creation into being with grace and ease.

Taking a look at the passages in Hebrews, we are reminded that God is the only constant in all of creation. Some have said that it is death and taxes, however God is clear that the only thing that remains constant is Him. At this point faith enters the equation. The things around us, material goods, people and the relationships we share are tangible. It is easier to hold and interact with them because they are visible. God on the other hand can be less tangible and more difficult to grab hold of. Faith, as the writer of Hebrews reminds us, is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we do not see. So, we are invited to hold as constant that which we cannot see visibly.

To live the marriage that we long for we must first hold onto the only thing in all of creation that is constant, God made known through Jesus Christ. Second we must have faith in God's ability to see us through the ups and downs of marriage. We must also have faith in our marriage as well as faith in each other. To pull this off requires more than a commonly spoken set of words. We need to take time to cultivate our reliance on God, and increase our ability to hold on to God and each other through it all.