"You just got to believe!"
**journal entry from a while back**
Yesterday at school, a 5th grade boy was trying to convince me that ghost were real. He rattled off a series of questions that quickly became rhetorical, due to his evasive speed in getting them out. However; there was a final statement he made that really got me thinking. "Ghost are real you know. Just because you can't see them, doesn't mean they aren't real. You just got to believe!" Although the topic was a little off, his principled acclimation pierced straight through to my heart.
What will it take to believe?
When it comes to Jesus, many people - myself included- have struggled with this resounding question. To believe means we have to exercise faith. The word faith is usually perceived as a knowing while the Hebrew [emunah - meaning firmness, something or someone that is firm in their actions] is a firm action. To have faith in God is not knowing that God exists or knowing that he will act, rather it is that the one with emunah will act with firmness toward God's will.
According to the writer of Hebrews "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."(Hebrews 11:1 ESV) Having confidence or assurance of what you hope for is different then tangibly having it. Having conviction of things not seen goes without seeing. We cling to Jesus as our source of hope, not because we can see Him, but we hold steadfast to the hope that is Him. One of my favorite scriptures (Hebrews 6:19) tags "we have this hope as a sure and steadfast anchor for our soul." This hope is Jesus. He is our hope, our steadfast anchor. In the waves of the storm or the calm of the sea, He is what we cling to and draw near to. May we hold tight to this hope and rest secured in our faith - "you just got to believe!"
When it comes to Jesus, many people - myself included- have struggled with this resounding question. To believe means we have to exercise faith. The word faith is usually perceived as a knowing while the Hebrew [emunah - meaning firmness, something or someone that is firm in their actions] is a firm action. To have faith in God is not knowing that God exists or knowing that he will act, rather it is that the one with emunah will act with firmness toward God's will.
According to the writer of Hebrews "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."(Hebrews 11:1 ESV) Having confidence or assurance of what you hope for is different then tangibly having it. Having conviction of things not seen goes without seeing. We cling to Jesus as our source of hope, not because we can see Him, but we hold steadfast to the hope that is Him. One of my favorite scriptures (Hebrews 6:19) tags "we have this hope as a sure and steadfast anchor for our soul." This hope is Jesus. He is our hope, our steadfast anchor. In the waves of the storm or the calm of the sea, He is what we cling to and draw near to. May we hold tight to this hope and rest secured in our faith - "you just got to believe!"
