Devotional: Hebrews 11:1

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Hebrews 11:1

If there is only one definition of faith in the Bible, this one definitely takes the cake! Sure, there are numerous examples of faith throughout Scripture and they provide a very good guide but until Hebrews 11 opened up with this verse, there was no definition of faith in Scripture. James, the alleged author of Hebrews and the half-brother of Jesus, had written this letter to the Messianic Jews of the day to explain to them the principles of Jesus’ deity and other doctrines vital to the church. At this point, he had broached the subject of faith.

James begins with “faith is being sure of what we hope for…” The New Living Translation says, “What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen.” This reveals more of what the author was getting at. This does not mean that everything we hope for is going to happen. This is referring to the hope of Salvation and Redemption. It is also the hope of Christ’s future return for the Church. You might be thinking, “Salvation makes sense but why Christ’s return?” Paul wrote, “For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven…we who are still alive…will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air…So comfort and encourage each other with these words.” (NLT – I Thessalonians 4:16-18) Encourgement and comfort bring hope, therefore, the Second Coming is indeed a blessed hope of Christianity.

The next part of this meaningful verse says, in the New Living Translation, “It is the evidence of this we cannot yet see.” We have already mentioned Christ’s Second Coming, which also fits this description. Yet, there are more things that fit this. God has made us many promises and he’ll keep them all. However, there are yet prophecies who have not come upon their proper time. Many of these are in Revelation. Some are in the writings of the old prophets of Israel. All of these will come to pass and we know it because of our faith. Faith is evidence of future events.

We have a definition of faith. Yet there is one thing missing – we must HAVE faith. Faith is the cornerstone of our salvation in Christ. Faith is the key to our survival as Christians. To be fruitful in our walk with Christ, we must have faith. I challenge you to read the rest of Hebrews 11 and it will give you a selection of the best examples of faith in the Scriptures. Model after them and you will see changes in you that will surprise everyone, even yourself! As always, God wants to help us. We only have to ask.