I’ve been a Christian since I was 5 years old. I grew up in a loving, caring, Christian household, and have been to Sunday schools since I was 1 month old. I would say that I am fairly familiar with the Bible, and have been taught many versus. Especially when you’re younger, you memorize familiar passages and spit them back out to your Sunday school teacher, in hopes for a piece of candy or a reward. But as you grow, so does your faith, and your knowledge of the scriptures. Sometimes those familiar passages lose their power, because you have known them for so long. This happened to me the other day.
I was reading through Hebrews chapter 11, and 11:1 was an old memory verse that I knew. It says, ” Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” I read this, skimmed over it, and flew through the rest of chapter 11, feeling proud of myself that I knew that verse. But the Holy Spirit gently tapped on my shoulder, and stopped me dead in my tracks. Was I really paying attention to what verse 1 said? The answer: Not really.
This verse is amazing. Recently, someone very close to me has gone through a complete life change, and has lost their job. It’s interesting how when someone you love goes through trauma, it seems to affect you personally in the way that you hear inspiring songs, and read inspiring versus. This verse rang true to me, and fit the circumstance to their life very closely.
As verse 1 states, our faith should be reflecting assurance of what we hope for, and certainty of what we do not see. How challenging is that?? Sometimes as an American person, I get very comfortable…too comfortable to have faith like I am called to have. Having certainty in what we do not see means to trust with all of our might that God will, and has, taken care of our future completely. There is no question about that. This changes our perspective of faith when our American world is shaken, and we all of a sudden cannot see our future, or what we hope for. Thanks be to God that He will shake us of our comforts, and remind us that nothing is certain. Even when we feel comfortable and that we have everything we need. Unfortunately, we are human, and it’s easy to lose faith and hope. But fortunately, we are human, and Christ has died for us, and covers our iniquities.
I am blessed to have been shaken, and to have nothing BUT faith to hold onto. My prayer is that I will not ever grow comfortable enough to the point of losing focus on being certain of what I do not see. The Lord’s plan doesn’t always align with our plan for our lives, so giving our lives to Christ must mean that we completely take our grip off our futures, and trust in God.
Don’t forget to really look at those familiar versus a second time. You may be surprised at what you learn!
Corri Gutwein
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