Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.
We mentioned in the previous section that one of the very clear truths revealed to us in scripture on the subject of faith, is that faith without action will never experience the power of God (James 2:17). And so we want to discuss that particular truth in this section. We have already established that faith resides in our spirit; nevertheless even though our spirit is invisible the above quoted passage of scripture declares that our faith can still be seen in the natural. The Holy Spirit in writing this passage teaches us that faith is the evidence of “things not seen”. The “things not seen” that He is referring to, are those things that we are fully convinced about in God’s word and thus believe. The same passage also teaches us that faith is the substance of things hoped for. Hope always refers to the unseen, for the scripture teaches us that we hope for that which we do not see (Romans 8:24). And so we see that the things which we hope and believe for have not yet materialised in this life and cannot therefore be seen in the natural. Nevertheless although the things we are exercising our faith for cannot be seen, the Holy Spirit tells us that there is something in its place that can be seen, for He tells us that our faith is the evidence of the things not seen. Evidence by its very definition can always be seen in some form. For example when someone presents evidence before a judge in a court of law that evidence must be tangible. In other words it must be something that the judge can either see or hear. In the same manner our faith, as evidence of that which is not seen, is also tangible in this life. So how is that possible? The answer is that what we say and how we act reveals what we believe, and so when others observe and listen to us they can see and hear our faith.
Michael E.B. Maher
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