Diving Deeper – Hope

Greetings Dear Reader,

The writer of the Book of Hebrews tells us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”   This is a common rendering of the original language though there is one that I prefer because it seems to make faith carry the weight it is meant to carry.  “Now faith is the mental foundation hope.  Faith is the convicting proof of things we do see or understand.”

I make my own choices.  I choose what I am going to believe when I do not see the answers or I do understand the situation.  When I count on my own understanding to follow Christ I am choosing to follow poorly.  This does not mean that God requires us to follow mindlessly.  It does mean that when I do not understand that faith is the right choice.  It means that when things seem hopeless it is my faith that is to give me hope.

So many people I have spoken to about faith and the lack of it give experiential stories of how someone or a group of people betrayed the tenants of faith and following.  This became the stepping stone to walking away from faith.  I know that I have seen those I respected betray what we hold dear as Christ followers.  It would have been very easy to reason my way away from faith.  I also know my past failings have caused others to do that very thing.

The problem is that faith is the foundation.  Once we step away from it we have nothing on which to build hope.  We have no bedrock on which to construct our hope, understanding, or following.  So often we get it backwards.  We count on things to prove God to us so that we can have faith.  Seeing is not believing.  Believing is seeing. 

I cannot hope to have real hope if it is not built on a foundation of faith.  I think that people fail so that we will learn not to base our faith on them or their example.  Christ wants our faith to be solely because of him.  I know that when I despair over the things that are dear to me but unrealized my only solace is in my faith. 

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."