Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1
On the transformation trail we who have experienced redemption by the blood of Christ are in the process of unlearning many old things and learning many new things. There is an American saying that goes something like this: it’s not just what you don’t know that hurts you, it’s what you know that just ain’t so. We are coming to recognize, in the light of God’s Spirit, that many truths we have taken for granted, perhaps even adopted as the basis of our lives, are not really true. Instead we are learning to rely on the life of another: the life of Jesus who indwells us.
Some of these so-called truths that we are unlearning have to do with the visible world. The way we relate to the world. The way we get along in the world. Jesus did not ask the Father to take us out of the world, but to keep us from the evil one (John 17:15). And growing up in the world we have been conditioned to depend on education, experience, information and input from our physical senses. All of those sources contradict what Jesus is telling us. It takes faith to stand firm in Christ while being assaulted by contradictory evidence all around us.
So it’s a good thing that we have many helpful examples in the scripture. Here are a few that are cited in Hebrews 11:
- Abraham had a promise from God. We read that “no distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God.” But given his advanced age—and that of his wife—it was impossible that the promise could be fulfilled. Sarah laughed in disbelief and received as a reply, “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” The Lord is full of wonders, and able to keep His promises. The numerical value of Abraham’s years was no barrier to God.
- Moses grew up in the court of Egypt, a wealthy and powerful nation in the world of that time. When he learned of his heritage and God’s regard for the enslaved children of Israel, he turned his back on the personal wealth and power that he had gained from Egypt. It was impossible for Moses, by himself, to extract his people from the grip of Pharaoh. Nevertheless, Moses resolved not to pay allegiance to Egypt any longer. When the time came, all of that great nation’s wealth and power could not prevent God from using that same Moses to execute His plan and deliver His people.
- God sent Gideon to confront a large army with a ridiculously lightweight band that was not even armed in any conventional way. The overwhelming numerical advantage of that enemy meant nothing to God in terms of achieving victory.
Centuries later, Jesus was passing through Samaria. He arrived at one of Jacob’s wells, exhausted. His disciples went to a nearby village to find food. Meanwhile, a woman from the village came to draw water. His request for her to give him to drink sparked a conversation. It was an amazing, revelatory conversation during which he stated, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
The kind of life that he refers to as eternal has to do with more than enduring for all time. That term encompasses all of the aspects of his own life. Jesus is eternal life, and he gives us eternal life by coming to live within us. As we learn to depend less on ourselves less and on more his life, we will be less influenced—or depressed—by the “facts” of age, political power, wealth and other temporary attributes of the world we live in.
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