"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen." Heb 11:1
the evidence of things not seen." Heb 11:1
This verse has always stood out to me as one that was particularly difficult to wrap my brain around. That fact that my faith is more than just a feeling or idea, but an actual 'substance'. I think that we today can easily fall victim to castrating our faith on the alter of normalcy. Each day we get up, get dressed, go to work, go home, have dinner, go to bed. Day after day, the same routine begins to wear away at the underbelly of our faith. We don't really need our faith day to day, because we've grown comfortable being rocked back and forth by the seemingly endless ebb and flow of our daily lives.
I think above all else this verse illustrates that 'Faith' is founded in the future. However, we today, find ourselves measuring our faith by our actions as they happen. This is a reactive response. The danger with this is, that our faith is only turned on, or exercised when something goes wrong. If life is seemingly easy, we get complacent, and think that we're good on our own. Then when the enemy comes in and rocks the boat, we're left flailing around in the ocean of self doubt and pity wondering why our faith wasn't strong enough.
Another drawback to REactive faith is that what if you don't always react with your faith? Most of us don't. Road rage is a great example. It only takes a split second for an event to occur and you to react to it. You don't have time to reach for the 'Faith' button, you just react. To steal a line from my wife, "When you squish a bug, what's on the inside always comes out." A very vivid and not so feminine analogy, but true none the less. If we wait until we are in a time of crisis, inevitably what will come out is fleshly selfishness, not faith. This is not to say that in that time we didn't have faith, but it wasn't the first thing we reached for.
I think that rather than a REactive faith, we should practice and live out and PROactive one. One that is constantly in tune to God's will and Word. This is the faith that is substance and evidence. A PROactive faith is constantly on alert and attentive to God's direction as well as the state of things around us. The moment things start to go bad, our faith kicks in and carries us over the crest of the wave and brings us down safely. This also is not by accident. When we live in each and every moment attune to not only our surroundings, but ourselves, we are keeping ourselves prepared and alert to respond to any situation in faith.
And more often than not, it is the response of Faith in a time of crisis that makes the love of Christ undeniably tangible, and ultimately leads people to Him.
- Just a thought
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3 comments:
I can't think of anything profound to say, but I like it! Gina
I think this goes back to the feed the dog principal. If we feed our dog everyday then we will have a PROactive faith. We won't have to think about what will come out of us during crunch time. It will be second nature to us the same way as driving a car is. We wont have to think we can just reactive.
Yeah, what she said. :)
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