When Jesus heard this he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “I tell you the truth, I have not found such faith in anyone in Israel! … Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; just as you believed, it will be done for you.” (Matthew 8:10-13)
Traveling through rural Pakistan, we passed bleak communities lacking any sign of women or children. It was considered indecent for women to be seen in public, so only men sat in clusters or roamed about. Oh, how darkness multiplies when humans try to fight evil with their own devices.
Then we arrived at an all-Christian village—an island of joy amid a sea of repression. I stood on the flat church rooftop and watched yellow, blue, and red kites dance above the mud-coated houses. The ladies inhaled the fresh air of outdoor life, girls ran and giggled, and the boys happily made kites. High over a people freed of their sins, flew colorful expressions of a blessed faith.
Faith is the wind that lifts us out of the mud. Without faith, my life is grounded on an expiring planet. I was not made to lie on my face but to soar into heavenly adventures, to dance above corruption and sin. Faith is the only force capable of lifting me into the life that God has planned for me.
Unanchored faith will not do. A kite, carried off by the wind, will flail and snag in the trees. A flyer with a string must guide it. Just so, even the strongest of faiths will crash me into hell if it is not attached to Jesus by the string of biblical truth. Faith blows as Jesus anchors me, and the result is the soaring life my Pakistani friends celebrated.
Prayer: Mighty Lord, by faith, fly me above the world’s demise.