Faith Believes

Belief is the first step into having Faith in Jesus Christ. If we don’t believe he is who he says he is, or that he even exists, then how can we obey him? While this chapter’s content may be familiar to most Christians, I’m not so sure we actually understand what it means. We say we believe one thing, but we do another. We know God can’t lie, but our actions suggest that he can’t be trusted. This chapter serves as a reminder to us about the faithful God we serve.

Everyone knows Hebrews 11:1-3:

¹ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ² For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. ³ By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

This passage gives a description of what Faith does. “It is the substance [sub stand] of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” When we have Faith we “make our stand” on things not yet seen. Example: You put your faith in God for a house he promised you. You can’t see it, but he promised it. As you believed it, you received it; therefore the evidence (or proof) of your Faith was the house. Faith believes things that are not in existence yet and then they come into existence because of our Faith. Another point is: If we can’t understand something God says (like the world was created by God’s own words) – if we simply believe it, we can understand it, as verse 3 of Hebrews chapter 11 brings out, too.

As we continue to read Hebrews 11, we can learn a lot about what it means to believe God from the faithful followers of old:

Noah moved and built an ark even though he didn’t know what rain was. (v.7)
Abraham left on a journey, not knowing where he was going, but he trusted God and went anyway. (v.8)
Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, all blessed their sons and worshiped God until death. They were certain about God’s promises even though they’d never seen freedom in their lifetimes. Joseph actually gave instructions on where he wanted his bones buried when they got to the promise land. (v.20-22)
Moses’ parents hid him as a child and didn’t fear the Pharaoh. (v.23)
Moses refused to live in luxury but chose instead to suffer affliction with God’s people, looking toward a heavenly reward he had not seen. (v.24-26)
Moses didn’t fear the Pharaoh he could see, but the God he couldn’t see. (v.27)

Faith in Jesus means: we believe everything he says about everything, despite the fact that we haven’t seen or touched either him or the things he speaks about. Like Moses and his parents, Faith in Jesus doesn’t fear what others may think or do to us for what we believe.

Believing Jesus is not about waiting to see evidence of the things he promises, but rather preparing to receive, being convinced and assured, because we know they are already on their way. When we think and act this way, we show Jesus that we have Faith in him. Let’s look at what the Bible says about Jesus; and what it means if we believe it.

Who Jesus Is →