“Now faith is the substance of our hoping, the evidence of our undertaking, not of our seeing.” Hebrews 11:1 (My praphrase)
How many times have we asked, “what is faith?” How do we know we have faith? What does it look like?
The author of Hebrews explains as best as he can. Faith has both substance (i.e., what it is made of or based on) and evidence (i.e., the actions we undertake to possess the reality of the substance). So, the issue is neither what is faith nor what does it look like. The issue is our hoping and our actions to make the hoping a reality.
The author of Hebrews knows his explanation is inadequate so he follows up his explanation with several examples of men and women whose actions demonstrate their faith.
Now, what are you hoping for? What is your hope? The promises of God? What is the evidence in our lives that we are living by faith? The old, worn-out adage, “seeing is believing” is false. Seeing is no more than seeing. Sight neither gives faith nor demonstrates faith. Anyone who sees can know the reality. But God’s promises are not yet fulfilled. They remain in our hoping and are received by faith. This does not make them any less real or any less demanding of action. We live by faith and not by sight!
Jesus said, “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed (Jn. 20:29b).”
Be assured of this: “God has prepared some better things for us, that past persons of faith should not be made perfect without us (re: Heb. 11:39).”
Dear Father, thank you for your promises and the assurance that they are ours through Jesus Christ our Lord. Empower us to live everyday in both substance and evidence of our faith in your promises. This I pray in Jesus’ name. AMEN
Let us praise God for his promises and live in faith,