Mar 17 - "Baby Steps"

"Jesus said, 'If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?'" --- John 2:23 - 3:15
********************************

Having faith, turning over your life to God and putting your trust in Him, seems like such a big decision. Does making a transition from "owning" your life and "controlling" the outcomes, to giving things over to God and accepting His will for you, feel like taking a leap across the Grand Canyon?

The snippet above from today's scripture reading comes near the conclusion of Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus. This man, a Pharisee and leader among the Jewish people living in Jerusalem at this time, is asking Jesus about His teachings. He proceeds with a line of inquiry where you can almost feel Nicodemus wanting to believe that Jesus is the Messiah who has come. We don't know for sure if Nicodemus ever fully believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but we can point to the fact that he helped bury Jesus in the tomb, an act which would imply that something in his heart had changed.

What a giant step it would have been for Nicodemus to go from a leader of his people who, eventually played a role in Jesus' crucifixion, to one who believed the Jesus was the Son of God. It may have been too much.

Sometimes, we are the same way...alike to Nicodemus. The decision to believe, to place your entire life and existence into the hands of the living God may be more than we can do. Maybe it is better to make small choices first; find little ways to turn our lives over to God. Almost no one decides to become a runner on a Monday and then runs a marathon on Saturday of that same week; the distance between those two points is too great. But, the decision comes with small steps; first walking, then running a few times each week; then a 5k...a 10k. Eventually, you have taken enough small steps, that when look back, you have covered a great distance. That distance, taken in one step, would have been to large to overcome, and failure would have likely been the result. But, attempted and achieved in small portions, our strength builds over time and we accomplish great things.

So, it is OK to take baby steps of faith. Find little ways to believe, to turn your life over to God. Offer up small decisions in prayer to Him; allow Him to work little miracles for you before asking for the big ones. For by bringing our faith along one step at a time, we are able to see God in these earthly things, open our heart to those heavenly things, and believe.