Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1
How many times have you heard the word faith in sermons? How many times has it come up in conversations with other Christians? How many times in your witnessing and evangelism? How many times in your personal prayer and Bible study?
Faith is a word we use really often, but have you ever stopped to really think about what it means? As a youth group teacher, I can say it’s one of the most difficult concepts to figure out and explain. It may seem simple at first, but explaining everything that belief really means quickly gets overwhelming.
This week’s verse clears things up a bit. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.” It is confidence in God’s ability to keep those promises which haven’t yet been fulfilled. It is trust in his will to accomplish all those things Christians should be hoping for: salvation, heaven, everything finally being set right.
Faith is “…the conviction of things not seen.” It is knowing that God is real even though he’s presently invisible to us. It is knowing that Christ lived perfectly keeping everything the Law commanded, gave up his life to save those who trust in him and repent of their sins, rose from the dead on the third day, and ascended into heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand.
For the rest of the year and probably into the next, we’ll be looking at all the examples of faith Hebrews 11 offers and learning the details of what faith really is. Until next week, meditate on what you know of faith. Study Scripture on faith and compare what you already know to that. Do the two line up? What changes might you have to make in order to be more closely aligned to God’s word?
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