Confident Hope

Week 36, Thursday

Heather Platt

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1 (esv)

There are many days in this life when I listen to the news or look at the pain and suffering around me and long for something better. As believers in Christ, we have a hope that better days are yet to come at the end of this life. Hope is not something that we can touch with our hands, but by faith hope is something we can believe in our hearts.

The Greek word for assurance is hypostasis, and it also means “confidence.” When you are confident that something is going to happen, you are not simply wishing it would come to pass, but instead you know that it is true. This is the hope we have in Christ. All throughout the pages of Scripture, God has shown Himself faithful to His promises. Those promises culminate in Christ, whose life, death, and resurrection guarantee that we can hope in an eternal future.

The next few verses in Hebrews 11 give a list of heroes of the faith. Although circumstances did not always work out the way these men and women would have planned it, they believed God for “things not seen.” As one example, Abraham and Sarah believed God would give them a son even though all the evidence seemed to say this was impossible. Others did not see the fruit of their faith on this earth. The author of Hebrews says they “died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on this earth” (Hebrews 11:13, esv). They were looking to their heavenly home and “God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city” (verse 16, esv).

Are we living today with hope in a heavenly home? Are we looking to things unseen and living life today for future glory? Many days I find that I am more concerned with my “to do” list and getting menial tasks accomplished than I am looking toward future glory and pointing others around me to the assurance of things to come.

Lord, help me to live each day in faith, believing that better days are yet to come. Open the eyes of my heart to hope in things not yet seen, and use me to share this blessed hope with others around me today. Amen.