July 5, 2026:

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.” (Genesis 12.4-5)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

In a recent conversation, I was presented with a statement that made me consider the difference between faith and belief. I thought of two passages of scripture.

First, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen.” (Hebrews 11.1)

Second, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who believe in Me and have not yet seen me.” (John 20.29)

Most all of us have grown up hearing “Seeing is believing.” Yet, we know the preponderance of work that has been done by vivid imaginations. I do not believe that those with such imaginations are “blind.” Rather, I believe that have been given a vision and they put their efforts into bringing the vision to life. In that regard, “not seeing” means what is not yet tangible, hands on, real time experienced. Paul would continue to say in Hebrews 11.3 “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” This does not mean, at least for me, that the substance of what was hoped for was nothingness. Rather, it was substance, elements, in chaos with no recognizable form. In the mind of the Creator, that substance of things hoped for began to take shape. The hands of God received their command and started to put things together. (Is it no wonder why we love puzzles, Lincoln logs, erector sets, blocks and Legos? We are acting out the part of God that is in all of us seeking to create “something” out of nothing.) In that regard, we trust in what we experience as an ability not yet fully realized. We begin to believe that a thing can be done before it is done. The vision may become a reality.

Yet, believing itself is not so simple. We can “believe” the possibility but not commit ourselves to it. In that regard, we do not have a serious faith. As James spoke truth, “Faith without works is dead.” If faith is the evidence of things hoped for, then faith is an action and not merely a thought or a vision. How many times have any of us received a vision and never acted upon it? We may believe in the one who gave the vision. We may believe that we have some ability and some resource. But we do not believe enough to put faith in action. We reduce ourselves to “seeing” as being the tangible. We do not dare to venture forth in the vision of faith considering the hope that is in us given by God will become evidentiary to ourselves and others.

While Abram/Abraham is called “The Father of Faith,” it is obvious that his belief in God in a monotheistic way helped to inform his faith. As Jesus said to Thomas, “You believe because you have seen; greater are those who have not yet seen and will believe.” Jesus is, of course, speaking of the witness of the Church. Up to this point, what was believed had been seen. It was seen by those who lost faith in God and in themselves because they could not believe that Jesus could or would die. Yet, He did and know He was resurrected. Jesus had to restore their faith to believe what was not yet seen. What wasn’t seen? It would be the culmination of the Messianic Promise. That is what they had hoped to see in the first place. That is what they were all hoping, or fearing, for the Messiah who was to come and now was here. We see the disappointment in Judas of Kerioth who wanted Jesus to prove Himself to be that Messiah as a spiritual general rallying true believers to take on the world and purge Israel from all wrong. We see the fear aspect in Caiaphas who sought to rule Israel himself and was the sworn enemy of Jesus as the Christ. Rule over the physical and tangible is always limited in time and scope. History proves that on a daily basis. What is eternal rises up from the heart and spirit of truth which is love. Jesus is the evidence of that reality laying down His own life, putting faith in action because He believed the vision of resurrection and the culmination of true faith in God. What Jesus was saying that evening in the Upper Room the following Sunday was a foreshadowing of the sharing of the Gospel of men and women who lived out their faith by believing what was made known to them. They would become the “first hand” witness for the second generation and so it would continue generation after generation. We, mighty ones of God, are the “first hand” witnesses to the next generation. We are committed to the work of discipling them so that they will be the same: believers whose faith is real and undeniable.

They, and we, are like Abraham who had a belief, received the vision, put faith in action and found in Canaan what no one else had expected. His faith, and ours, is sorely tested in order to advance the truth of God who loves all creation and all the people who on Earth do dwell. We dare not fear the challenge nor the test and lose our faith and divest ourselves to believe something that is less. We must accept the Word of God and recognize that we “are blessed to be a blessing; that blessing is the culmination of the Messianic Kingdom which will come on earth as it is in Heaven (being fashioned there now even as we speak by the Resurrected Jesus who alone is the Christ of God and our Messiah.) We must not simply believe it. We must have faith in it and know that we are the faithful when we act upon what we believe knowing God has not failed us nor deceived us. God has loved us beyond measure; it is His will.

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.