Faith’s Foundation

Hebrews 11:1-3

Verse 3  By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

    Today we begin the third week of advent, the week of faith.  The first verse in today’s Scripture passage is one of the better known verses of the Bible about faith but one of the hardest to remember when life seems confusing.  As we talk about faith this week we will learn how Christmas is a perfect example of faith in God being the surest faith one can have.

    Faith is confidence.  As we talked about in our week of hope, our hope isn’t baseless and the same is true of our faith.  When our faith is in God it is based on the One who created the entire universe.  Our verse for the day helps us remember before we can truly have faith in the Babe of the manger we need to find our faith in the Creator.

    Our faith in God must begin with the trust of His being the One who spoke all things into being.  If we fail to believe He created everything with the mere sound of His voice, we can never truly have faith in anything else He says.  We will be less likely to think He really means what He says in His law and will question if the other things in the Bible are facts.

    Faith is actually the first thing the enemy attacked when he came to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  The serpent spoke to Eve and made her start to doubt what God had said.  She didn’t realize how listening to him was the beginning of her questioning her faith in the One who walked with her husband and her in the garden.  She knew God in relationship but had allowed someone outside their relationship to bring doubt into her mind about who God was.

    We are no different than Eve.  We allow things we see to cloud our belief in God.  When things in life don’t happen the way we thought they would or wanted them to, we may begin to start focusing on what we want more than the God we need.  It doesn’t help when the world around us is becoming more adamant about God either not being real or being a failure at His position.  The enemy who used the serpent in the garden has only changed his chosen mouthpiece.

Making It Personal

    What does faith in God mean to you?  How sure are you of God doing what He has said?  Where in your life do you struggle with faith?

Making It Personal Kids

    How would you define faith?  What are some things you have faith in?  What does having faith in Jesus look like?

Closing Prayer

    Father, thank You for creating us with the ability to have faith.  Help us learn to have full faith in You not the things we can see and understand.  In Jesus’ name, amen.