Sure and true faith
““Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. “ Hebrews 11:1
A lot of people see faith as something of a wish. They see faith as a choice in whatever you we want to believe in, each one having their own kind, each subjective. But the strong belief we have in something should change the way we live. It should give us hope, a conviction. If we believe in the wrong thing, the hope and conviction are useless. It ends up being an empty promise that we’ve held on to our whole lives, just to find out it was a lie. But if we believe in what is true, that hope becomes reality, and that conviction stands.
The assurance of things hoped for.
Hope is solid. It’s not like blowing the candles on a birthday cake. It’s a living part of who we are. When we “wish” something would happen, it’s as if we’re throwing out the desire to the universe and just waiting to see if fate will take a chance on us and give us what we want. But when we hope in God, our desire doesn’t get cast out into the darkness of space — it finds its home in God himself. He is the fulfillment of all our hope and so much more. We don’t have to worry if our deepest desires might come true or are even possible in the first place; we couldn’t even come close to imagining, and much less hoping for, all the good things God has in mind for us. Our hope is assured. It’s a sure thing, no matter what happens in life. Jobs, people, circumstances, dreams… all of these things will come and go. Putting our hope in them will eventually leave us with dust, for they will not follow us to heaven, but rather die with us when our time comes. But our hope in God? It is like a sure and steadfast anchor (Hebrews 6:19). Nothing can touch it. It is held true by our Creator — in this life and the one to come.
The conviction of things not seen.
Being convicted of something means you believe in it strongly and powerfully. You are convinced and there’s nothing that can change your heart or mind otherwise. But believing in something without the proof can be either impressive or foolish. It’s the difference between two prisoners, both who believe they’ll be saved with equal conviction, but each hoping in someone different. Both who tell their fellow prison-mates all about the one who is coming to get them out, each one believing in a different rescuer that will come. And the prisoners wait, listening to the hope and faith of these two in two different people, wondering who is right. In the end, when the true rescuer comes and the prisoners see who was telling the truth, the other person whose vision of a rescuer didn’t come, their faith is seen as void. It doesn’t matter anymore. Their faith didn’t become reality. Our conviction is not because we’re right, but because God is true and he shows up. It’s just like in 2 Kings, when Elisha and his servant were being surrounded by an army and the servant was understandably terrified. Elisha just prayed for his eyes to be opened and the servant then saw the whole mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. This isn’t just a parable — this really happened!
Imagine if we lived every day looking with the eyes of this kind of faith: faith that sees the unthinkable with a convinced heart and a faith that hopes in the impossible with assured confidence, no matter what. It’s a beautiful life. And it’s not a maybe. It’s reality. This is the kind of life we can live as a Christian.
We don’t have faith in ourselves. If we did, it’d be like trusting in a fellow prisoner to get us out — hopeless. But when we put our faith in the only sure and true One there is, every day from here to eternity is one we can live in confidence and in peace — with Him.
