Hebrews 11:8

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

From The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe:

Mr. Beaver: Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight. At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more. When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death. And when he shakes his mane, it will be spring again.
Lucy: Is he... safe?
Mr. Beaver: Safe? Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Of course he isn't safe... but... he's GOOD... He's the King.

We so often have false expectations of our lives in Christ. We become deceived to expect that to know Jesus means safety and security always, easy living, perfect peace at every corner. We hesitate to venture into situations that threaten these false expectations. And when we are forced into these situations we can become frustrated, discouraged and insecure. The problem with these ideas is that the Christian life was never meant to be safe, nor is it possible for it to be safe for very long. It would be good for some Christians to lower the priority that safety has in their existence because the craving for safety can replace the thrill and adventure that life was meant to be. We can become addicted to staying safe without even realizing it, and before we are aware, we can become like bored, unsatisfied robots. It is sometimes not until the thing we dread occurs that we wake up and begin to live again. This of course, is not about replacing safety with foolishness but rather with a defiant sense of adventure.

John 15:5; Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:10-17

John 15:5
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing

Isaiah 64:6
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

Romans 3:10-17
10As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
11there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
12All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one."[c]
13"Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit."[d]
"The poison of vipers is on their lips."[e]
14"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."[f]
15"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16ruin and misery mark their ways,
17and the way of peace they do not know."[g]
18"There is no fear of God before their eyes."[h]

Does God believe in you? Would it surprise you if I were to say that He does not in the least bit? That does not sound very encouraging, but it is true, there are plenty of His Words throughout the Bible that restate the "apart from me you can do nothing" concept again and again.

But with that in mind, think now about the first part of John 15:5. How much power must there be in our Savior, if we, who have no value to God apart from Him, can "do all things" when we do believe in Him? The next time you feel like a failure, accept that you are one, then look to Jesus, and know that He did not fail, and that when He is the object of your life you cannot either. The next time you feel like a coward, accept that you are one, then look to Jesus, and know that He did not back down in the face of adversity, and that when He is the object of your life you will not either. The next time you feel discouraged, know that Jesus believed in His Father's plan despite many causes for doubt, and know that kind of faith is yours too, when you look to Him for reassurance.

Put another way, our Savior's life and subsequent sacrifice is so potent, so perfect, so pure, that even someone who can do nothing good, someone who has continually thought only evil, someone whose best works accumulated over his entire life could only be traded for a soiled feminine napkin, can be made perfect just by believing in Him. In our limited understanding, we may think we do not fit in these categories apart from Him, but if we believe the Bible we must accept that we do. Once we do that, our eyes become open for the first time to Jesus's full person and not only what He means to us, but the full extent of who He is and what He has done.

1 John 2:16

For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world.

These three categories of sinful pursuits are enemies to any soul who desires to follow Jesus. Each one is worshipped as a god by many people. The "pride of life" represents our desire to "be somebody", to have other people recognize how great we are, to feel in our minds that we are great.

The pull that we have to serve this "pride of life god" is like maintaining a bonfire. At our worst, we have a twisted obsession with building this fire as bright as we can. Opportunities for achievement, compliments from other people, and recognition in various forms such as awards can all serve as forms of firewood. We spend many a day with our eyes wide open for opportunities to gather this firewood and we love to throw it on the fire for all to see. We also are protective of this fire. When we have it going at its best, we feel most vulnerable anything or anyone that might throw water on it, and we are worried that we will not have enough firewood to keep it from getting dim. This "pride of life god" is cruel, indeed, to serve him is to be miserable.