"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." - Hebrews 11:1

In the verse above we have the seemingly incredible statement that there is substance to faith; that it is something solid. This certainly refers to the Christian, the one who has faith in Christ. But as I reflected on this verse the other day, I realized that this is true not only for the Christian, but for all those in the world today. All men live by faith in some ideology. The substance of each man's faith is how he lives his life.

We have all heard of those poor deluded souls who took their lives to meet up with alien beings in a UFO hidden behind the Hale-Bopp comet and thought, 'How foolish!' Yet these individuals had a faith that to them had enough substance, or reality, to cause them to take their own physical lives in response to it. It was a vain imagination, to be sure, but it was strong faith. And amazingly enough, it was based on the words of a man. Like the Christian, these folks believed what they were told by a 'witness.'

Then we have those who believe in evolution; that man has evolved from a lower life-form to his present state (though they actually believe he came from pure energy in the 'big bang'). The faith of these people is also based on the words of some man. Oh, they may say it is based on fossil evidence or some such thing, but first of all, if one looks at the actual fossil evidence itself, it is merely fragments of bone, or a tooth, or some such thing, which is then imagined to be some complete creature. It is this creation of the imagination that is then presented to the world by those who dug it from the earth. When put 'on the spot,' they will admit there is a 'missing link' in their chain, yet multitudes stake their souls' destiny on this shaky philosophy.

When one professes faith in Christ based on the Bible and the words of the prophets and the preachers, they are laughed to scorn and are said to have no evidence for their faith. The truth is, our Bible is more certain than their bones, our Scripture than their stones, our prophets and preachers than their professors and teachers. Ours is a faith with the right substance! Thank the Lord!!

- Jim Grapp Oldpaths Bapist Church

The Shepherd's Scrip

Vol. 4/Num. 3 April 1997