by
Ryan Kiblinger, Pastor Foundation UMC

We live in a culture that has by and large lost hope. We have lost hope in our politics, in security, in the wars in the world. We have simply lost hope. Hope as a commodity seems to be in short supply. Hope is what the world is offered in Jesus Christ. But the Bible tells us that hope is preceded by faith. Listen to these words from Hebrews 11, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” This definition is directly opposed to the modernist mantra, “seeing is believing” or even the post modern view that “my perception of my experience is reality and the basis for truth.” So what is faith and how can we have it?
Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see. So first we must believe in something that we cannot see. This is a hard thing for our evidence based, reproducible methods of data collection. Faith only exists when no such hard evidence is present. Also, faith is only as good as the object into which we place our faith. If one puts their faith in a rock to save them from hitting the ground when they jump from a plane, we know that person has misplaced faith, because the rock is not worthy of having faith for salvation placed in it. On the other hand, if a person places their faith in a parachute to jump, their faith will prove well place based on the worthiness and ability of a parachute to save them from the death of hitting the ground.
Faith in Jesus Christ then gives us hope in One who is able to save, and so a worthy object of our faith. Not only that, but faith in Christ places hope outside of ourselves, and not in ourselves. It is an observable reality that we are unable to save ourselves (as individuals or as a nation or the people of the earth). Humanity is desperate for a Saviour. And Christianity teaches, that we are not saved through our good works nor our good intentions, but through the work and person of Jesus. God sent Jesus to earth to put on flesh, that He might bear our brokennesses in his body (sin), so that whomever would believe in Him, would receive salvation and life. Would you come to Him today?