— Midweek Meditations:
thoughts, inspiration and encouragement
from ACF community members —
I often struggle between responding to God’s call for us to exercise faith – not only in our salvation but also in our personal and wider lives – while at the same time responding to His call for us to exercise prudence.
Faith is trusting God, His promises, His guidance, including when the future is uncertain.
Prudence is the wisdom to discern the right course of action in particular circumstances, and using the resources God provides us with responsibility.
In the conduct of our daily lives, Jesus calls us both to faith and to prudence. For instance, Jesus encourages us to have faith in God’s provision: Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?… (Matthew 6:25-34). Jesus also uses examples of prudent planning such as a builder calculating the cost of building a tower before starting the building (Luke 14:28-30) and a King considering whether he can win a war before going to war (Luke 14:31-33).
The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) can be understood as Jesus drawing a firm distinction between active and passive stewardship – prudence is not the same as being overly-cautious or passive.
Faith determines whom I trust. In God’s strength, I trust in Him.
In my view, prudence determines the care I exercise and the agency I assume in how I act. With God’s strength I try to equip myself as best as possible for the responsibilities that I believe He has laid out for me, and to use reason, education, experience, counsel and planning to make decisions.
A simple example from my professional background as a school principal: especially when I served as a leader in Christian schools, I think it was appropriate to encourage students to trust in God’s presence with and provision for them. And it also was appropriate to encourage students to focus well during lessons, to do their homework, to revise thoroughly for tests and examinations.
We pray for God’s presence and wisdom as we respond, day by day, to His calls for us to exercise both faith and prudence.
The ACF Midweek Meditations
are written by a diverse group of our church members with the intention to seek God’s fingerprints in our lives. They range from somber to humorous and are inspired by all facets of live and faith. Written by ordinary people from all walks of life, they reflect a wide range of Christian backgrounds and spiritualities.
Each week’s text portrays the individual viewpoint of its author. They might not always resonate with everyone, and are not meant to be understood as representing the Anglican Church Freiburg as a whole. Yet, as a church that is aiming to ‘Build a Community of Grace’ we seek to practice learning from and listening to one another.
We pray that these humble ponderings add a small spark of blessing to your week.
Freiburg Anglican Church 
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