Recently, a friend of mine from Tanzania in East Africa said this to me:  "I have noticed that in America most people don't live by faith.  They live by fact.  They say if you have this and this than you can do this, but if you have this and don't have this than you can't do this.  We live by faith.  We say I have this but I don't have this but God wants me to do this, so he will provide what I need.  That is faith." 

So how does that square with what you believe?  Recently some friends of mine and I were sifting through scripture about money for a presentation on funding that we were doing for one of our classes.  Someone brought up the passage in Luke 14 where Jesus says, "suppose someone wants to build a tower, will he first not count the cost to see if he has enough?"  We got into a discussion about this passage which is often applied as "don't start something that you can't finish OR don't spend money you don't have."  Which seems wise right?  But I contend that Jesus was not really talking about fiscal principles in that passage.  The context in Luke 14 shows that he was talking about what it takes to follow him.  It is not a commitment to be taken lightly.  A person with wisdom will stop and consider the cost of following Jesus (that is count the cost).  Otherwise if they don't they will get into 'building the tower' and only then realize they don't have what it takes.  I believe Jesus says, "Consider ahead of time that you don't have what it takes so that you may lean on, depend on and know that it is only by the hand of God you will accomplish anything following Jesus."  So the message isn't "Don't build the tower" it's "Build the tower knowing that only by the hand of God can anything of worth be built."  So too, none of us has what it takes to follow the Lord's leading.  Do we wait until we have it all figured out?  (Live by fact)?  Or do we take some risks?  (Live by faith)? 

That seems to be the question at the core of what my friend from Tanzania was saying about us Americans.  I have a t-shirt with my family's (Bridgman - from my mom's side) coat of arms and motto on it.  The motto in Latin is "Noc Temere et Noc Timidite" - 'Neither rashly nor timidly'.  I believe that is the kind of life we are empowered by Christ to live.  We do not rashly jump into things without considering what it means, what it will cost, what the commitment entails (at least to some extent).  But neither do we stay on the sidelines timidly waiting for all the pieces to come together, waiting for maximum comfort and assurance that we won't get hurt somehow in the process. 

The Bible says it this way:  It says faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  It also says that if one hopes in something that he sees that is not faith at all - again aptly pointed out by my friend in Tanzania.  What is our response as American Christians?  I think the best response is do not so quickly dismiss what he says, but to think on it, meditate on it, search scripture on it.  Perhaps he has a point.  We who have been given much tend to begin living life depending on it our our ability to gain or earn it instead of on God's ability to give it. 

What do you think?