Devo 22
"Author and Perfecter"
This will be my last devo for the summer--maybe. I realize that many of you will be gone doing different things this summer and will not have access to email. Or at best, sporadic access in which case you won't want to spend your 15 minutes a week reading a long devo. Perhaps I will continue though. Writing these devos has been a great help to myself personally. Anyway, whatever the case, you will hear from me again...(sounds ominous doesn't it!)
Hebrews 11:1 Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and believing in what we cannot see.
What is it we hope for then? What has man always hoped for since the expulsion from Eden? Is it not the way to go back? Not just to return to the lush garden where needs are fulfilled, but to the communion with God that the first man and woman enjoyed. In the first act of rebellion, though, this communion was severed, and the original Kingdom of God on Earth was gone. But before they left, a light of hope was left with the two; the seed of the woman shall crush the head of the serpent. A way would be made back. Communion would one day be restored.
Through the centuries, the Jews never forgot this promise. In the land of Egypt, their cries went out for deliverance, and God sent them Moses. Though under Moses, the Israelites came to the land of Caanan, and under Joshua subdued it, Moses was not the chosen seed. But before he died, he spoke of a Prophet who would come.
By the time of the Roman occupation several hundred years later, the Jews' desire to see the promised seed come and crush the head of the serpent was stronger than ever. Various individuals rose up in revolt and people followed thinking the time was come. But the revolts were quelled, and the occupation continued.
Jesus was different. He didn't speak of rebellion or of casting off the oppression of the Romans. He didn't train a band of warriors to take back the city of Jerusalem from the hands of infidels. But what He did do was speak to the hope that lay in each of the Jews. Again there was talk of the Kingdom of God on Earth. And again communion with God was proclaimed, 'come to me you who are weary, and I will give you rest.' 'Whatever you ask of the Father in My name, it will be given you.'
But God rarely works in ways humans can understand. Rather than establishing His Kingdom in a violent uprising against the heads of Rome, He allowed Himself to be killed at the hands of sinners. In the Divine mystery, this act of sacrifice has opened access for everyone, not just Jews, into the Grace of God.
'If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.' To be saved! To be saved from what? To be saved from the prison of this world. To be released from behind the bars forged by our sins, into the mountains of majesty we could but dimly see from within our cell. To be saved from doubt. Having been raised from the dead, we can be certain that even 2000 years later, Jesus Christ is still alive! The man who walked the streets and roads of Israel, healing the sick and proclaiming the forgiveness of sins is still alive! Though He has left in physical form, His spirit moves among us acting just as Jesus did. Acting through the disciples, the sick were healed. Through the apostles the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth had its foundations laid. Through the witnessing of these, lives have been altered forever. And through its stirrings in our souls we see indeed Christ does live and will one day return for His own. It is through faith that we believe in this that we hope for. It is not the vain hope of a child wishing for a toy his parents know better than to give him. It is a hope founded in and derived from the very presence of Christ in our lives.
Faith is being sure of what we hope for--the promise of heaven, a new Eden and communion with God. The one on whom that faith rests is no less than God Himself through the act of His son Jesus and carried through the ages by His spirit. If Christ had not risen, our faith would have been futile. Just like the false messiahs before, and even after him, he would have been forgotten. But because He lives, we can have hope--confidence--that one day we will live with Him.
But human faith is imperfect on its own. Too many times have promises been broken. Too many have come and gone claiming to hold the answers to our issues only to leave us wanting. Disillusioned now, we don't know where to turn. We put our trust in our politicians to provide a secure life--but many of these have succumbed to the very vices we wish them to eliminate. We put our trust in the medical organizations to provide swift accurate treatment of our ills--but all too often, the politics of business get into the way of the patient.
As long humans only have other humans to put their trust in, we will be disappointed. But when we put our faith in God, we will never be left wanting. Jesus told the bleeding woman, 'Your faith has made you well.' He told Jairus, who had come to Him seeking help for his daughter, 'Don't be afraid, just believe.' And both were healed. They could have, and likely did, seek out the help of physician to cure them, but in the end they realized that only in Jesus could they find what they were looking for. These two didn't approach Jesus with worries about whether or not He could help them, they came to Him because they knew He could. The bleeding woman was sure--was confident--of what she hoped for, that Jesus could help her. And only in approaching Jesus was her hope, her faith, realized.
Apart from Jesus, all our hopes, all our desires, and all our longings have been relegated to the winds of chance. But in Christ our dreams find a firm foundation, our hopes and desires are confirmed because the God they rest on is alive. He brings completion to our incompleteness, fullness to our longings, and perfection to our imperfections. "Therefore, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith."
Have a good summer!