Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Hebrews 11:1-3 ESV)
Time and Faith
All three of our words (faith, hope, and love) have been kidnapped by society and in a sort of Stockholm Syndrome reaction, taken on meanings other than how God’s Word uses them. Today, faith seems to mean irrational thinking. Today, faith seems to mean foolishness. Today, faith seems to mean naivety.
But faith is a lot better than that.
Humans have two ways to know things. We know things that we have learned through our senses, or logically deduced. We generally call that, ‘reason.’ Reason is a good thing… part of the way God created us to understand and interact with our universe.
And we know things that we have learned outside of our senses. We generally call that, ‘faith.’ Faith is a good thing… but we do not arrive at it naturally. The only way to have faith is to have God give it to us.
Perhaps what the world calls, ‘faith,’ is reasonable for them. Because they have not received the gift of faith, when Christians describe our faithful understanding, it seems like irrationality, foolishness, or naivety.
But it is not.
Faith, as a supernatural gift granted to us by God, generally refers to things in the past. The author of Hebrews connects faith with things like creation. No human saw creation. But the author of Hebrews knows that God created the heavens and the earth. He knows this through faith.
We use something LIKE faith to understand things quite a lot. We have a sort of faith that our birth-date is accurate. We were not there. But we believe that the birth certificate tells us the truth. We have a sort of faith that electricity lit our light bulbs yesterday. We can not see the electrons riding copper wires. But we believe that Edison and Tesla were correct. We have a sort of faith that the milk we purchase at Leaker’s has an accurate use-by date. We did not see it come from Bessie. We did not see it processed. We did not see it shipped. But we drink it.
But actual faith is more important than those daily faiths.
Actual faith is the God-given ability to know that God IS real, God IS present, God IS involved, God IS in charge, God IS what He says He is.
We will be looking (as part of a three-day cycle) at the faith described, defined, and demonstrated in God’s Word. Faith looks at the past and sees God’s strength, God’s presence, and God’s connections to His people.
Faith breeds security when we are afraid. Faith breeds certainty when things do not make sense. Faith breeds comfort when we hurt. Faith breeds hope. Faith breeds love.