Title What is Faith?/Hebrews 11:1-2
Contents
What is faith in the Bible?
We often say that faith is good, but what does that belief really mean? We often fail to properly answer this most basic and important question.
Today's text, Hebrews 11: As we know it well, it is called the field of faith. It introduces the beliefs of many Old Testament forefathers and tells us in detail what true faith is like.
Today's text corresponds to the introduction and outlines what this definition of faith is. Verse 1 says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen”. The things we hope for and the things we don't see are the same thing. What you wish for is something you have in your mind, and it is not a reality. Nevertheless, for those of faith, what they desire in their heart or what has already been accomplished is on the same line. Someone has said that it is like hearing a lark's cry from a lark's egg, but what is more certain than that is hope in faith.
Although they have not seen heaven and hell, for those of faith, above all else, they live with certainty about the existence of the afterlife. It is this certain faith that did not waver despite the terrible persecution of the early church and became the sacrifice of martyrdom for the Lord. The forefathers have always stood firm in this belief.
And without faith, how can we say that the heavens and the earth were created by the word of God? Isn't that out of our experience? Therefore, this faith is clearly established in our hearts with the help of the Holy Spirit of God, beyond human reason and experience. A life lived by feeling the things of the future as if they were things of the present, as if they had seen the unseen, as if they were present, is an all-weather life lived by faith. A person of this kind of faith has no fear of anything and becomes a person with the ability to overcome any difficulties.
In conclusion, attending church diligently cannot be faith in itself, and it is not a person of faith just because it looks plausible to people. The person who transcends time and space and transcends the environment, always confirming his existence in the presence of God, is a person of faith.