Hebrews 11:1
By Faith
1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
2 Corinthians 4:18
The Unseen is Eternal
18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
John 5:3-11
The Healing of Lame Man at Sheep Gate
3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
7"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
8Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." 9At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "
The author of Hebrews tells us that faith is being certain of what we do not see...This can be a challenging statement for us, because we have used our eyes and senses to learn things, make decisions, to make more certain (about things) and learn more about things we do not believe or understand...When we are very, very young and do not know many things, our parents point and tell us that is a tree...They show us an animal, and tell us that is a dog, and this is a cow...We see these things and make a mental note and now know what a tree, dog, and a cow are...Later me learn more about these things...But first we see these things and are certain what they are and that they exist, because of help from our parents...We are certain of so many things because of what we see...We learn so much with our eyes...We first see things with our curious eyes and know that and what they are with some help...We need this help to learn and make certain of these things when we are young...
St. Paul in his second letter to the Church of Corinth says that we must learn to fix our eyes on what we cannot see...In this epistle to believers he tells us that what we see is temporary, but what we cannot see is eternal...So these things that we do see and learn about on earth are only temporary...If we want to learn more about permanent things, we must focus on those things we cannot see...These are the important things, the eternities...
For most of us, we want to grow in this certainty of faith...How can we grow our faith to be certain?...We need some help to make this happen and also, to increase our faith...
Faith sometimes seems far from us...For a very few, they can see faith near...I think, for our great Saints, faith is near, but often far away...St. John teaches us about the lame man at Sheep Gate, who had more than one problem.....An angel touched the water once a year and it would stir...The first one in the pool would be healed...The lame man could see the healing water, but he couldn't get in, because he was crippled...The lame man was there faithfully at the pool waiting for the angel to touch the water, but couldn't get in...The lame man's problem was insolvable to him...He was crippled, so he could not get up and be the first one in...So Jesus asks him, do you want to get healed?...He tells Jesus without help, how can he get in the water, I am crippled...Without Jesus' help the lame man could not get in the water...Without Jesus this lame man's faith could not be complete...Like the lame man, this is Who we are...And Jesus is who we need, if we are to grow our faith...Without Jesus are faith is crippled and lacking...
Faith is not seen...Faith is being certain of what we cannot see or sense...We need to read Scripture to increase and grow certain in our faith...We need help to learn and make certain of our faith...When you are learning and studying Scripture everything is not clear...God is near, but still far away...Jesus teaches us no one comes to the Father, except through Him (John14:6)...Without knowing Jesus, we cannot grow our faith or have the kind of faith God wants us to have...We cannot be certain in our faith without Jesus...