Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
Hebrews 11 deals with two questions: What is faith? What does faith do? The opening verse deals with what faith is, and the rest of the chapter deals with what faith does.
The word translated assurance here is also used in chapter 3, where it’s translated confidence. “We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end” (3:14).
Maybe you are thinking, “If faith is assurance and confidence, then I don’t have faith because I have so many doubts.” Faith may be mixed with doubt, but faith is that which believes. It is the assurance of what we hope for, and the conviction of what we do not yet see.
Sugar is sweet. That is its nature. Salt is sharp. If sugar is mixed with salt, it will taste very strange. But whatever sweetness there is in it comes from the sugar. Whatever sharpness is in it comes from the salt. In the same way, your faith will be mixed with many questions you cannot answer and many things you don’t understand. Doubt is what questions. Faith is what believes.
A man in the Gospels said to Jesus, “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). The believing was faith that he wanted more of, mixed with unbelief that he wanted less of.
Richard Sibbes, in his book The Bruised Reed, used the analogy of smoke and fire to illustrate the mixture of faith and doubt that is in us all. When Peter said to Jesus: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16), that was the fire of faith. But when he told Jesus that He would never go to the cross (16:22), that was the smoke of doubt.
You may be discouraged about the smoke in your life, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Faith is that which believes. It is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
How does it comfort you to know that all authentic faith is a mixture of faith and doubt?
