Confidence? Assurance?

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. -Hebrews 11:1 

I really love the way the NIV phrases this verse.  Personally, I have the KJV rendering memorized,  "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

I like the NIV here because we can pivot on these two pillars of Confidence and Assurance much more easily... 

When we begin to question those two qualities, they reveal much about our faith  - even our theology.  

For instance, what confidence do I have in Christ?  I don't mean what book knowledge I have... I mean what daily, consistent, and practical confidence do I carry on Christ day in and day out?

Honestly, it doesn't line up with what I know of Him...  I know that when He is lifted up, He will draw all men unto Himself...  I'll tell you what, when I look at society today, there's not much translated confidence in that verse... Yet... He said it.  It's true and it's happening all around me.

I should have confidence that He is my Good Shepherd.   That confidence ought to inspire me that even in the doldrums of daily living, He is leading me to green pastures.  Does it always feel exciting?  Absolutely not... Should I be excited at this prospect?  Why, yes!

What else?

I can have confidence that God works all things for good, to those who are called according to His good purpose.  That's a tough one to take out of your memory verses and actual employ in your day to day outlook.  The world is evil.  It is a place of unfathomable suffering.  I'll be the first to admit, this may be one of the hardest principles to have confidence in.  Perhaps, therein is the truth of "Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be comforted."  For when one mourns, they are realistic in their outlook of this world of sin, whose god is Satan...  When one mourns the racism, the ethnic cleansing, the trafficking, the addictions, the exploitation of children, the attrition of war... Then perhaps one might have confidence that this world cannot produce anything other than misery, and as one looks unto God, groaning for redemption, one finds comfort.  It is, therefore, possible to have confidence in God's goodness when we are enlightened to the reality of what this world isn't... That is, a just, equitable, and charitable place to live...  One seeks those qualities as one is presented with their absence and one finds them in Christ alone...  He will never find them in men...  Our confidence in good is in the condemnation of evil; and we must remember our confidence is in things hoped for! We all hope for a raise at work, but ultimately we all hope for a world free from injustice, evil, and sin.

That said, we are to be confident that vengeance is the Lord's, that He will repay the wrongs we endure.  This ties closely into the last point, but carries the practicality of not avenging one's self.  Because we live in America, I feel this needs to be stated. I do not believe this principle negates our right to defend our lives if threatened, but it does forbid us from dealing justice to others when we are wronged.  A Christian ought not shoot the man stealing his jeep in his driveway.  He also shouldn't allow the gunman entering his home safe passage...  But these are merely simple interpretations of how we might have confidence in the Lord's vengeance.  

Do you feel the need to defend yourself when people speak all manner of evil falsely against you?  Do you bless those who persecute you?  You cannot if you do not have confidence in this attribute of God.  Surely, the wicked will suffer under their condemnation, but what if, God chooses to save their souls?  If we have decided to exact retribution, have we not already set our hearts on their destruction?  Perhaps God has intended for their mercy?  

We are merely finite.  Our emotions, fickle...  I understand that this is so easy to type in a blog post or preach from a pulpit.  I often wonder how I would respond if some reckless driver (because there are many in Jacksonville, FL) cost the lives of any of my boys...  My first reaction would honestly be vigilante justice...  But if I allow my knowledge of Scripture to actually influence my daily confidence, I will probably escape being charged for first degree murder...  And I will have rest in knowing that vengeance is the Lord's and that He is working all things for good... So I shall mourn... And I shall be comforted...

What about assurance?  In the context of the verse, its the assurance of things we do not see. I don't see heaven.  That's hard too, because the ancients looked up.  They saw the celestial and presumed it to be the dwelling place of God.  I mean, even Jesus resurrected upward...  So...  I've seen space... But I haven't seen heaven.  If you're honest with yourself,  you know that this one was much more easily accepted by the primitive mind - those who came prior to modern cosmology and astronomy.

Difficult as it may be... I still have faith in the unseen realm of heaven.  Where was Jesus going?  I don't know...  The ionosphere?  Up into the clouds from where He will return?  Was it merely symbolism?  Is Heaven within some parallel universe or dimension?  Who knows... I can't see it.  I'm sure my expectations of heaven are actually superimposed on what Scripture actually teaches of heaven.  Perhaps that could be an issue.  I know that when Jesus returns and establishes His reign and purges the created order of sin and evil, a new heaven and a new earth will be created.  The two seem to touch one another.  They are not as basilica frescoes make them out to be, as ethereal places in the blue sky with fat baby angels playing jazz... 

I can't see it, but God has inspired an assurance in me that it is real and my hope rests in that which I cannot see.  That is, after all, the definition of hope; the longing after that which is not seen.

Do you go to work thinking about angels? Probably not... I don't... I should.  Because my faith is the assurance of that unseen spiritual world.  We tend to think more of demons than angels, and with the world being as it is, I can understand why...  But we ought to live as though we live in the midst of a great battlefield.  Light vs darkness... Good vs evil... Love vs hate... Righteousness vs wickedness...  There is a natural tension to all of this that we all experience, but we seldom correlate the unseen war.  Therefore, be enlightened.  Be prayerful, for the devil prowls like a roaring lion seeking whom to devour.  We must pray that we would not be led into temptation, but that we would be delivered from the evil one!

On the contrary, there are ministering spirits working for our good as well.  Some of us have perhaps entertained angels without knowing it.  We ought to allow the assurance of these unseen benevolents to inspire confidence.

We can really go on and on with every aspect of our faith; justification, sanctification, glorification, the return of Christ, the judgment of the wicked, the inheritance of the saints, the span of eternity, the goodness of God, the wrath of God, the tri-unity of God, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the blessings of righteousness, and on and on...

And that's got to be the point.  I love those words, confidence and assurance, because they do not allow my faith to be purely academic.  It's possible to know all these things and not have confidence or assurance in them. That seems to be when we swoon for politicians and become incredibly near sighted; focused heavily upon earthly rather than heavenly things. 

So, let our faith be put to the test.  What do you believe of God that in reality, you have little confidence or assurance in?  Find the disconnect.  Scrutinize it.  See if you cannot live with greater joy without suffering from cognitive dissonance.