Just want to pass along a short encouragement the Holy Spirit gave me the other morning with respect to all that is going on around us. It’s a very familiar passage of scripture but sometimes we can miss the deeper meaning without considering the context and the content. I was reading these verses in one of my Bibles and the notes I had written a long time ago got my attention.

Heb 11:1-3 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 

Let’s consider a few of the words Paul used here…

• Faith – pistis; firm persuasion, “conviction” based on hearing.
• Substance – hupostasis; “realization” of Christ as the very image of God’s substance
• Hoped – elpizo; things hoped “in” 
• Evidence – elegmos; “confidence” in a proof
• Things – pragma; a deed that has been “done”
• Not seen – iou blepo – not “yet” seen

Let me take a little liberty… Now conviction is the realization of things hoped in, the confidence in the proof of a completed deed that is not yet seen.

This is exactly what Paul said to the Christians in Rome. Our faith is to be solidly based on hope in what God has promised.

Rom 8:23-25 Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. 

Our faith (perseverance) underpins our hope in the promise of our salvation and new body. We cannot see it without faith.

I have always used an example that paints a great picture. Our hope is the thermostat on the wall. We dial in the desired temperature based upon the fact that we hope the furnace (our faith) will respond and bring about that hope. It is our faith that is the foundation under our hope in things that we cannot yet see.

Don’t lose your “hope” – stand firm in your “faith.” If you want the right temperature in your house, you need to fire up your furnace.