Faith & Hope

       Faith and Hope are entwined after the fashion of the Spirit and the body. They are united by the wisdom of God because he has “sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying, Abba, Father”. Just as such, one should be the servant of the greater, namely hope unto faith. The manner in which you worship, praise, pray and live your life for Christ is determined upon whether you hope, have faith or balance carefully between the two.
       This point or these points are meant to be elements only of a much more exhaustive dialogue concerning the full extent of their meanings. Nevertheless, we see the superiority of faith in its very own Biblical definition. It is “the substance of things hoped for…” When you submit to God through repentance moving towards salvation, you are doing so hoping to find something better than your previous experiences. What you find is faith. What you hoped for is faith, something only revealed at the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
       To continue, faith is “the evidence of things not seen”. Christians are ridiculed by non-believers for worshipping what is not so apparently visible or seemingly intangible. Even by mere acknowledgement is the ideology mocked. Yet these foolish hypocrites will, in turn, believe and misplace their faith (rather their hope) on their own private and agenda driven interpretation of “scientific facts” they so admiringly refer to as logic. Where are the sub-atomic particles? I ask you, where do they reside? What is their make-up? What is the appearance of their parts? We cannot see them at this point in time, however we see their workings, their activity. Moreso, effects and actuality through manipulation and our perception are a clear witness of their existence. So wise men of “science”, on this point do not condescend a Christian's choice to respond through faith in the activeness of Christ in them and in the world around.
       Faith is an actuality waiting on its investor to act, ready with the reward waiting to be attained. Hope, though noble in cause, is not always so forthcoming in its effect. Hope is investing in the possibility while still retaining a cloud of doubt. Hope is manifested from the flesh while Faith is revealed from the Spirit. It is important to remember that our flesh must submit to the actuality of the Spirit as we are called to exercise both, “that our faith and hope might be in God.”