NOW FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR

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We live in an age when the Gospel of Christian Prosperity is popular. Preachers such as that guy with the initials J.O. have captivated thousands with their questionable, non-scriptural philosophy.

Such altogether human icons such as the man I alluded to would have you believe that God owes us something. If we "tow the line" and make Him happy, then there are little or no limits to the good health and great wealth that we naturally deserve as a result. 

Nothing could be further from the Truth

Literally in the last five minutes I gleaned something from the first verse of Hebrews Chapter 11 which has never occurred to me.

"Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for."

Those last two words in that sentence could be replaced with the phrase "which we expect" and as a result we have,

"Now Faith is the substance of things which we expect."

I tend to think that the martyrs of Hebrews 11 expected better treatment than they received.

"Others were tortured, but refused to curse God since they were children of the Promise. Some endured mocking and flogging and the chains of dank, dark prison cells. They were stoned to death. They were cut in two. They were executed by the sword. They wore sheepskins and goatskins. They were poor. They were persecuted. (And the world was, by no means, worthy of them). They lived in caves and chasms. They wandered in deserts and stood on the summits of mountains.

 "God and men praised them for their faith, yet not one of them witnessed the fruition of His promises, since Providence had a better plan for both them and us." (McDonald Paraphrase of the New Testament)

Not one of them witnessed the fruition of His promises.

I think the prosperity preachers must have conveniently subtracted certain passages of scripture from the holy writ, such as,

"Filling up in my own body the unfinished sufferings of Christ." (Col. 1:24)

(and)

"For I reckon the suffering of this present time is passing away, but he who does the will of God endures forever." (Romans 8:18)

(Doesn't sound like the health and wealth gospel, does it)?

Speaking of things hoped for, and the potential disillusionment of not getting what we would expect, the following verse is as practical as it gets.

"The world and its expectations are passing away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever." (1st John 2:17)

Afterall my friends, isn't it all about forever? Isn't the forever we are waiting for worth the comparative momentariness which we may endure on this side of heaven?

I believe it is.

by Bill McDonald, PhD