The Stuff of Dreams

The Substance of things hoped for...

Just a brief pinprick of light, today. I'll not spend a lot of time explaining details, just leave things to readers smarter than I to figure out.

Any literate person, let alone biblically literate person, recognizes the subtitle. Paul (and if it was not Paul, it was his mental and spiritual clone) wrote that "Faith is the (tangible, measurable, sensible) stuff of things hoped for..." probably never thinking that he'd not be able to get through thick 21st century skulls.

The faith that Jesus and Paul and James (and others) knew and spoke about seems to have about as much in common with the religious faith of most Christians I know as Pope Paul has in common with Michael Moore, as Martha Stewart has with NASCAR. The faith of Jesus and His first century followers was substantial, not the eery will-o-the-wisp, insubstantial, wishful thinking that passes as faith among so many persons of religious persuasions today: theirs was stuff.

I'll not go into the theological, historical, cultural and linguistic commentary that this is derived from, but here it is:

The faith of Jesus, Paul, James and others might better be translated for 21st century ears as "trusting obedience" when viewed as human faith. God's faith is the obverse: it is His eternal, unwavering trustworthiness that makes our trusting obedience possible. I'll pause a moment for the culture clash as you consider God's faith.

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(Sidebar: don't chase the rabbit trail of "faith vs. works"--it's a false dichotomy, as James adequately explains.)

Now, trusting obedience to God is substantial. It is evident to our senses, testable in tangible ways. When we walk by trusting obedience to God, not by our own limited vision and understanding, we do so knowing that He is with us, guiding, providing, protecting as He sees and understands for our ultimate good and for His glory. It is the walking in trusting obedience, living our daily lives in the knowledge of and submission to His desires for us, that is the stuff of hope.

That's faith. It's not a feeling or a manner of thought. It is what we do. And what we do is either faith in God or faith in something else. Many have faith in politics, money, prestige. Martin Luther had an image that dealt with the contrast between trusting obedience to God and trusting in and "obeying" the precepts of anything else. He envisioned the cross of Christ as a burning, searing fire shedding darkness and shadows on the path of those who were looking to anything else but Christ for direction, providence, salvation in their lives. To those who looked to Christ for direction, providence and salvation, however, it is a shining light to their path, illuminating pitfalls that once were hidden in shadows.

Faith. It ain't what you were taught in Sunday School. It's better.