#DailyDevotion Faith Doesn’t Believe In Faith

11 Faith is being sure of the things we hope for, being convinced of the things we can’t see. 2The men of long ago were approved of in this faith. 3By faith we know God made the world by His Word so that what we see wasn’t made of what can be seen. 4By faith Abel brought to God a better sacrifice than Cain and was declared to be righteous, when God approved his offerings. He died, but by his faith he is still speaking to us. 5By faith Enoch was taken away without dying and couldn’t be found, because God had taken him. 6We are assured that God was pleased with him before he was taken. But it is impossible to please God without faith. If you come to God, you must believe He exists and will always reward those who search for Him.

We often hear speak about faith as if it is something in itself. They believe in faith or have faith in their faith. But that is not how the bible speaks of faith. Faith must have an object and it has a reason for having faith in that object. Hebrews tells us it is “being sure of things we hope for, being convinced of things we can’t see” Paul talks about it this way, Rom 8:24 “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?” And he says, 2Co 4:18  “as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

We Christians have faith in God because He does not lie. He has given sure and certain proofs to those who came before us, namely Jesus Christ and him risen from the dead. We have the testimonies of the Patriarchs of all they had experienced with the Lord. So because God has kept his word in the past, we are confidence and certain of things he has promised which are to come.

By faith we know God made the world by his Word so that what we see wasn’t made of what can be seen. Out of nothing, by Jesus speaking the word, brought into existence everything we can see and what we can’t see. Today we even can detect what can be seen with powerful electronic microscopes, molecules, atoms and even what atoms are made from. Eventually we may even see God peeking back at us.(That’s a joke). Yet even science says the same, something came out of nothing. (At least that’s the best running theory at the moment. Many scientist oppose this because it sounds too close to the biblical narrative).

Hebrews then starts a running commentary on the men of faith. We get our question answered by Abel’s sacrifice was accepted and Cain’s rejected. Cain didn’t offer his gift with faith in the Lord and so he didn’t bring a better sacrifice than Abel who brought the first-fruit of his flock while Cain just brought an offering of some of the fruit of the ground. Abel’s faith teaches us to trust God will provide more. Enoch was taken up and didn’t die. He walked with God. Enoch must have had faith in the Lord. Hebrews gives us a very important commentary here, “But it is impossible to please God without faith.” If you don’t have faith in Jesus Christ the Lord, whatever you do, no matter how good it may look to the world, the Lord does not accept it. It is not pleasing to God. Paul says as much in Romans 14:23 “For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” You will see lots of people telling you God is concerned with how you act not with what you believe. That’s one big pooping lie of Satan (Of course it has some truth. God does want us to do good to our neighbor). First and foremost for any work to be a good work to God, it must originate in our faith in Jesus, the Lord.

So faith believes God exist and will reward those who seek him. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things we are anxious about he will provide us.” We seek his kingdom when we put our faith in the promise that in Jesus we are pleasing to our Father in heaven. When we trust our righteousness that stands before God is Jesus’ righteousness, then we are pleasing to God. When we try to stand before God with our own righteousness then we are not pleasing to God because we are rejected the faith Jesus has given us.

Heavenly Father, give us your Holy Spirit and your promises that we may believe them and walk in the faith of Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord, and what we do may be pleasing in your sight. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.