Faith Definition (Hebrews 11:1)

The faith definition found in Hebrews 11:1 is an excellent way to learn what real faith is. Hebrews 11:1 is a great Bible verse about faith. Let's dig in and find out the background of this verse and how it might apply to our daily lives.

Context

Hebrews 11:1 and the verses following seem to build on what God said in the previous verses in Hebrews 10. Near the end of chapter 10 the author talks about many of the ways that the Lord will judge His people. Hebrews 10:38 says this "But my righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has not pleasure in him." I think this is the basis for Hebrews 11. It seems to me that we are told of the dangers of having no faith, then in Hebrews 11 we are told exactly what faith is.

Meaning

Hebrews 10 has some faith scriptures and Hebrews 11 has some scriptures on faith as well. So many, in fact, that Hebrews 11 is known as the faith chapter. It starts out with a faith definition.

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

"...things hoped for..." could mean a lot of things. To me this means that we need to have faith in the hope of Jesus coming again. I think our faith assures us that God is good and that He really will come back to get us. I don't know of anyone who can see God, yet this verse is telling us to have "conviction". Conviction is not a wishy-washy thing. Conviction means that there is no doubt. We KNOW that God exists and that He is there for us. We don't need to see Him. We have faith in the things that we don't see.

Application

This Bible verse about faith reminds me that even when I don't "see" God working at the time it doesn't mean that He isn't. Even when I don't see Him providing healing from disease, it doesn't mean that He isn't right there. Even when I don't see Him helping someone break an addiction doesn't mean that He's not working.

We sometimes think that if God isn't doing things our way, then He must not be there. I have to remind myself almost constantly that God does things differently. I need to have faith that He is there and that He is working.

As I look back over my life, I see God there. I sometimes don't see Him at the time, but He's still there. The passage in Hebrews 11:1 reminds us to keep our faith strong even when we don't feel like God is there. He is.