LESSON 4

YOUR THOUGHTS: How would you describe faith?

Can you think of other examples of faith in action in the Bible?

Do you have the right faith? (You knew that was coming, didn’t you?)

MY THOUGHTS: In the dictionary faith is defined as having complete trust in somebody or something, or being without doubt or question. This type of faith is practiced a lot in our lives. I think its application is so common that sometimes we aren’t aware of it. I’d like to illustrate two examples of this so-called automatic faith in action. You walk into a room and in the room are two chairs with numbers on it. Before you enter the room your friend told you not to sit in the number two chair, because it has a history of collapsing when even the slightest weight is applied to it. What chair do you sit in? You sit in chair number one, because you trust in your friends’ advice and also you lost faith in the other chair due to its shaky history. Assuming your friend is trust worthy, you automatically choose what he or she advises. So your faith is in your friend and also in the number one chair. Our second example is about that cup that you removed from your kitchen cabinet to pour you favorite drink. in. Wait a minute, did you think about that liquid pouring out the bottom of the cup? No, you have that automatic faith that the cup was made well enough so it won’t leak. Three objects of faith were presented in these examples, the cup, the chair and also, you might even think about, man the inventor of these items.

Now I would like to introduce to you what the Bible says about faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb.11: 1). This is the first verse in Hebrews.11. I like how the author uses this verse to set the stage for the rest of the verses in that chapter. Throughout the Bible, Genesis to Revelation, faith is demonstrated a lot The characters that are mentioned in the Old and New Testament were identified by the way they directed their faith.Hebrews.11 talks briefly about some of these people. They were called to perform difficult tasks because their object of faith was in almighty God. Their “substances of things hope for” were the promises that God had given them. By faith Abel offered “a more excellent sacrifice than Cain”. Because of that, God gave the promise that he would be heard even though he was physically dead. By faith, Abraham, Jacob and Isaac received the promise of a city, which has a foundation and whose builder is God (Heb.11: 10). These people and others that weren’t mentioned, “died in faith not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off” (Heb.11: 13). They didn’t know that they were part of the Devin Plan that later leads to the “Author and Finisher of our faith,” our Lord Jesus Christ (Heb.12: 2). What is the object of your faith? Who is the object of your faith? Is it man? Is it some object? Is it you? Open your eyes to your future. Look beyond what can help you today and look afar off into the eternal city that God built for us. Have faith in Jesus who is the door of that city and He will let you in and say welcome my good and faithful servant.

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