Faith is the reality of what we hope for
A thought
For John Wesley, faith was a core concept, but his own concept of faith developed over time. At first, Wesley spoke of faith mostly as belief — assenting to the truth of the Christian revelation. Faith in something that was predominately objective.
It is as though his faith then moved from his head to his heart as he experienced God’s grace in a more deeply personal and intuitive way. Wesley’s conversation about faith began to turn more in a direction of personal trust that leaves one confident in God, especially confident in God’s love. Trusting in God’s love becomes its own evidence that God’s love nurtures and inspires growing our trust and confidence.
For Wesley “faith” continued to have a sense of believing in the truth of revelation (as in believing in “the faith” — a noun), but as his own experience of faith became more nuanced, he spoke of “degrees” of faith as a sense of growing in faith (more like a verb — “faithing”). As our faith grows — trusting, loving — we expand our experience of God’s love which expands our understanding of God’s love. We grow toward holiness, so assured of God’s love that the same love fills us and energizes our lives.
We open the Abraham saga in Genesis. Abraham is the father of faith, the icon of faith. Abraham trusted God’s call promising blessing, and he left his home, his family, and his dependence upon their support. He trusted God for guidance and support, and set out on his pilgrimage. He acted in trust. His faith was a verb — the action of leaving, grounded in his trust that God would lead guide and bless him.
“Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see.” Hebrews 11.
A prayer
Father,
in glorifying Christ and sending us your Spirit,
you open the way to eternal life.
May our sharing in this gift increase our love
and make our faith grow stronger.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen