No Visible Means of Support

Good Saturday morning! Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Heb 11:1) The scholars are not sure who wrote the book of Hebrews in the Bible. That seems appropriate in light of this verse. Whoever wrote or dictated this letter to the faithful in Judea gave us a precious gift. We often long for the touch, the feel, the sound of our Savior, but better still would be to see Him face to face. However, before the writer of Hebrews set this verse down for us, Jesus said something that takes precedence: Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." (John 20:29) Thomas was one of the original 12 disciples. He walked with Jesus and listened to His teachings directly for more than 3 years. Yet, Jesus does not call him blessed here but those who have not seen and have believed. We have a great privilege bestowed upon us in believing in Jesus without seeing Him. Sometimes it doesn't seem like it.

We long to be with Jesus and, yes, to see our Lord in the flesh. However, we long for this because the Spirit within us longs to be united with the bride and groom. I believe that the Holy Spirit looks forward with great anticipation to the wedding of Jesus, the groom, and the Church, His bride. We are not there yet, and so we feel a great longing to be with our Lord. We work on keeping our lamps trimmed and filled with oil as the faithful bridesmaids did in the parable. We journey home from the far country as the prodigal did. We invest the talents we have in hopes of our master's return. And we seek to grow deeper into the good soil of God's Word, all while we await the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. At the same time, we have no visible means of support for our hope in Christ.

God does not walk the streets with a big wallet handing out stacks of cash. Yet we believe in His providence. God does not send Jesus back to every debate about the validity of the Bible, but we believe in His Word. God's people are persecuted, scoffed at, and ignored, but we believe in Him we cannot see. I cannot reach out and grab the vine, but I know that by abiding in the True Vine I will grow and be sustained in my faith. God is more real than all of this we see. Not that this world is an illusion, but we know from the Word that one day there will be a new Heaven and a new Earth, yet God will remain the same.

Praise the Lord for our faith,
Bucky