Prepping is an Act of Faith

“Faith is the turning of dreams into deeds; it is betting your life on unseen realities.” (Clarence Jordan’s version of Hebrew 11:1)

Faith is very much a combination of both hope and action; in order to have true faith, you cannot have one without the other. The faith of our hearts drives us to lead a better life, a life of wholeness, and often a life set apart. Because of our faith, we have dared to dream of how our life could be and have stepped out in that faith to work and make that dream a reality. This does not mean that every dream or belief we have is part of our faith. As Clarence Jordan says in his interpretation of Hebrews 11:1, our faith becomes living and breathing when we turn those dreams into realities. In fact, our faith can easily be revealed by looking at the things we have cared enough about to act on.

Most of us have taken the dream of living a simpler life, of having the ability to care for our families without relying on the outside world, and put action to it. We claimed the dream and had the courage to act on it. Just as the prophets of the Old Testament, we draw strength from God to act on dreams we know are in line with His thoughts for our lives. As followers of Christ, our faith cannot be a life of dreams minus the actions. We have to step out in courage, take action, and bring those dreams to certainty regardless of what the world may say. That is the true definition of living a life of faith.

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Today in Christian History

On May 1st, 1873, Dr. David Livingstone, Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an explorer in Africa died. While he is considered one of Christianity’s greatest missionary heroes (his travels covered one-third of the continent, from the Cape to near the equator, and from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean), he produced one convert to Christianity in all his time in central Africa. However, his books and letters did help bring about public support for the abolition of slavery, and by opening up Africa to missions, education and health care arrived on the continent. Livingstone’s life in Africa was one of hardship and suffering, but in 1852 he wrote, “I place no value on anything I have or possess except in relation to the kingdom of Christ.”