December 29: Reality… Proof…

Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. For our ancestors won God’s approval by it… And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength after being weak, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.  (Hebrews 11:1-2+32-34 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Hebrews 11 is known as the Chapter of Faith, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to read the entire thing. Today’s passage includes 5 of the strongest phrases in this chapter, but the entire chapter includes powerful examples of how heroes of faith, both men and women, used their faith to overcome. 

Faith is a hard thing to describe. The more we talk about it the more complicated it becomes. Basically faith is a decision to act on God’s promises, a decision that what He promised will come true because He cannot lie. It’s risky, and flies in the face of most of what we see, hear and feel. Faith is not a feeling — it’s a decision to act on God’s Word. 

It’s like a lightning bolt — here one second, gone the next. If we think too much about faith, the moment to use it has already passed. 

The first sentence of this passage says it all — faith is reality, faith is proof. Strange, huh? We normally think of reality and proof as something we can touch and see physically, and yet, much of what we daily consider reality and proof end up being lies. Faith deals with spiritual realities, spiritual proofs that God places in our hearts, like the woman who came up behind Jesus and touched the hem of His robe believing that she would be healed. Her healing was a reality to her even before she touched Him, though she had been sick for twelve years and had spent all her money on doctors that could not heal her. Many would have told her that the chronic nature of her sickness and the money she had wasted were her reality, but something she heard had awakened faith in her to believe that those 12 years could be wiped away in a second, and they were.

It’s no good explaining faith. Faith has to be lived out. Faith comes from hearing the Word of God. Let’s stop thinking about it, and do it. There’s no better time to use your faith than as we start a new year.