Hope’s relationship to faith
In Hebrews 11, the Bible gives us a definition of faith:
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (NASB)
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (NIV)
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Notice that faith is about the past, the present and the future. It defines our worldview of how things are now, and of how things came to be as they are now. It is also about how we expect things to turn out, which is where hope comes in. Hope is a quality that is always future orientated, and yet it makes a huge difference to who you are and how you live your life in the present.
Romans 8:24 .. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?
25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
By studying what God has done in the past as recorded in the Bible, we can gain an assurance or confidence that God is good and loving, that he is on our side, that he is powerful, and that he is trustworthy. We also gain hope from this, for if God shows no favouritism (Rom 2:12), then it is reasonable for us to expect that what he did for people in the past he may do for us also. But the Bible also has much to say about the future, and about what God will do for us in the future. Faith is the assurance of all of that - past, present and future.
Faith is incomplete without hope. If you want your faith to be complete, you must study what the bible says about the future.
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (NASB)
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (NIV)
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Notice that faith is about the past, the present and the future. It defines our worldview of how things are now, and of how things came to be as they are now. It is also about how we expect things to turn out, which is where hope comes in. Hope is a quality that is always future orientated, and yet it makes a huge difference to who you are and how you live your life in the present.
Romans 8:24 .. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?
25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
By studying what God has done in the past as recorded in the Bible, we can gain an assurance or confidence that God is good and loving, that he is on our side, that he is powerful, and that he is trustworthy. We also gain hope from this, for if God shows no favouritism (Rom 2:12), then it is reasonable for us to expect that what he did for people in the past he may do for us also. But the Bible also has much to say about the future, and about what God will do for us in the future. Faith is the assurance of all of that - past, present and future.
Faith is incomplete without hope. If you want your faith to be complete, you must study what the bible says about the future.