The "Feeling" of Faith

This morning in Jesus Calling, I read "Bring Me all your concerns, including your dreams. Talk with me about everything, letting the Light of My Presence shine on your hopes and plans. Spend time allowing My Light to infuse your dreams with life, gradually transforming them into reality." Hmmm? Turning dreams into reality...I like that.

Abraham and Sarah are sited in the devotional because due to the long wait their "enjoyment was intensified". Repeatedly last summer, God reminded me to have faith about His vision for our future and for Boundless Ministries by bringing this verse to me over and over: "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." (Galatians 3:6; Genesis 15:6)

But one of the Scripture references for today's devotional was Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." The three underlined words each had secondary definitions in my Bible's notes.

• assurance = substance
• hoped = expected
• conviction = evidence

Substance. Last time I checked, substance was something you could touch. I think of expecting something as pretty much a done deal. After all, I have "expected" five children in my lifetime and four of them made it here, so with expectations, there are pretty good odds it will happen. And evidence. Who hasn't watched a police or legal TV drama or movie and learned that the best evidence is concrete? Circumstantial evidence will never win a conviction in a court of law...at least on TV.

So this morning, these three words lept off the page of my Bible, planted in my soul and the Holy Spirit's been growing this question in me: Why do I think of faith and hope as these intangible, ethereal, other-worldly concepts that only a Biblical giant like Abraham can grasp? According to this passage in Hebrews, they are just as tangible as anything I can see.

Then bless His name, Holy Spirit reminded me of another verse, I Corinthians 13:13 "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." And there it was...proof yet again that to think in terms of faith, hope or love is to know beyond anything my eyes may tell me that these three are real...tangible...palpable even.

How do I know this? Because this chapter in I Corinthians is called the love chapter. Read it. It describes everything that love is and what it is not. Then in verse 8, we're told that some of the spiritual gifts sought by Christians will pass away. Verse 9 through 12 go on to describe how we can't fully know anything in this life because here there is no perfection. Our lives are actually like looking through a dim mirror. But one day we will understand God's perfection for our lives. Finally, in verse 13, we're told that even when everything else passes away there are three that remain...faith...hope...and love.

Other than what we are taught in Hebrews 11:1, how can I teach that faith, hope and love are tangible...even evidentiary too? Close your eyes (okay, read this...then close your eyes!) allow yourself to imagine a life, a world without faith...without hope...without love. Really fantasize here. Use your imagination to "feel" what life would be like.

There is a difference, isn't there?

Now, if the absence of faith, the absence of hope and the absence of love would produce a different "feeling" in our lives and our world...doesn't it stand to reason that although we may take them for granted, each of these has their own "feel"? And if you can feel something...there is substance...tangible, palpable substance.

So next time you feel like you have no faith, next time you have no hope or next time you believe you have no love, my prayer is you'll remember this verse. And be assured that no matter how awful life may be we are told that because of God's Presence in this world we can undeniably count on His Truth...His Promise...that faith, hope and love will remain.

God is amazing. And I am thankful that this theme in my life just keeps growing. I can't wait to see where He takes me next because... "the greatest of these is Love." Amen!