“Trust and obey,” says the hymn, “for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.”

That’s easy, even fun to sing in church on Sunday or perhaps at home during personal devotions. It’s nothing but church talk if we don’t put legs on it, set our hands to work on it, and let it control our mouths and, yes, our thoughts once we close the hymnal.

Weekday faith, in other words, keeps working somehow even when life’s choices do not appear in strictly and obviously moral terms. It works to keep us trusting and obeying in the midst of ordinary, every day temptations.… Read the rest