Walking by faith

When I was little, one of my favorite cartoons was Winnie the Pooh. I must have watched my tape of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too thousands of times. In the movie, Rabbit gets angry with Tigger and decides to teach him a lesson.

Rabbit took Tigger deep into the woods, planning to get him lost and leave him to find his way out alone. In the process of trying to get Tigger lost, Rabbit ended up getting himself lost. Once he ditched Tigger, he wandered around in the woods for hours, until it finally got dark.

Alone in the mist, Rabbit started to see the woods as a really scary place. Every ribbit of a frog or snap of a twig made his skin crawl. His heart was beating fast. He was lost, alone and very afraid.

Have you ever felt that way? Too many times, we end up like Rabbit - wandering around in the dark. But that's not how God wants his people to live.

In John 8:12, Jesus said, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." The last thing God wants is for us to walk around lost in the darkness. After all, how can we point others toward the Light if was can't see it ourselves?

God knew that this world would try to get us lost and confused. He knew that the darkness would be overwhelming for us. That's why He sent the Light of the world (Jesus) to save us from our sin and ourselves.

So, what happens when we feel lost and alone? Paul told the people at Corinth to "walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Cor. 5:7). If anyone knew what it was like to have to walk by faith, it was Paul.

Before he was a champion of the New Testament church, Paul was a big bully named Saul. He traveled around persecuting Christians. He had chosen to walk in the darkness of his sin. But on his way to Damascus (to pick on some more Christians, of course), he saw the Light of the world.

Have you ever walked out of a dark place into bright sunlight? It hurts your eyes, right? Well, after walking around in the dark for so long, when Saul saw the Light of Jesus, it hurt! He was literally blinded by the Light (Acts 9). Saul had to learn really quickly what it meant to walk by faith.

Eventually, Saul's sight was restored and he began to preach the Gospel. Everyone that heard him knew that he had been changed, and they all knew it had to be because of Christ. Nothing else could have taken Saul and turned him into Paul.

Paul didn't promise the people at Corinth that it would be easy to walk by faith. I'm sure it wasn't easy for him. In Acts 9:16, God said that Paul would have to suffer for Christ. We know that the Christian life is not perfect and that it's not always easy, but if we are faithful to God, He will be faithful to us.

Wondering what happened to Rabbit? Check out the video below:



You know, when we're wandering around in the mist, God knows where we are. He never gets lost. And He can show us the way home - if we walk by faith and follow Him.