Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1, NASB
Before, I saw faith as a religion or a set of beliefs until I read the bible. I realized that faith is more of a state of our hearts in relation to the claims and promises of God. If we have faith, we anchor our whole being on Him and His word even if we have not seen Him.
According to the verse above, faith is the assurance of things hoped for. The second part of the verse, the conviction of things not seen, has the same meaning as the first part.
Faith is described in the most solid of convictions. It is as real as the real thing. Though many of God’s promises are set in our future; therefore, we have not seen them. Yet faith in our heart does not doubt its reality.
An illustration from a fellow preacher helped me understand this more. It goes like this. A title deed to a property shows proof of ownership. Though it is not the property itself, it is the real thing. The words in the title describe the reality of ownership and it reflects the reality that there is a property. The proof that you own the property is the title.
In the same way, faith considers real like the title deed, all the claims and promises of God.
In may not be as easy for some of us to grasp this whole faith thing. We were brought up in a society where to see is to believe.
The whole definition of faith in Hebrews 11 is the exact opposite. Instead of to see is to believe, it strongly upholds to believe is to see.
And growing faith means the more you believe the more you see.
The more real the word is in our hearts, the more real God becomes in our lives.
By Ed Pilapil Jr. ©
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
