LESSON: The Faith Chapter

Spiritual Glasses

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. Hebrews 11:1-3 NIV

The American Heritage Dictionary says ...

1. FAITH is the confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, and idea or a thing.
2. FAITH is the theological virture defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will.

Hebrews 11:1 says FAITH is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.

I have been wearing glasses since I was 13 years old. I'm nearsighted, which means without my glasses I can't see from a distance. I often wonder if the reason why I have to wear glasses has anything to do with those nights I snuck my Dad's flashlight from under the bed to read a Nancy Drew or Judy Blume book.

As human beings, we are all visually, emotionally, spiritually or physically impaired in some ways. There are some things an eye prescription will not help us see because it is invisible or has not taken place yet in the visual. So we need some spiritual glasses.

Spiritual glasses, huh!!!

No, you can't get these glasses in one hour at Lenscrafter. Let me share a story...

In September 1998, I unexpectantly lost my transportation. The week before I had packed the car as much as I could with all my belongings so I could move in to my NEW apartment to a NEW location for a NEW job. On the morning of my first day of work, my car let me down BIG time --- it caught FIRE !!! After the fire truck arrived and the reality of the situation hit me, an annoying thought automatically popped in my head.

"Ok Missy, what you going to do about transportation?"

If you are a cartoon lover like me, you'll remember those scenes where there is a little angel on one shoulder and the devil with the pitch fork on the other shoulder, both providing advice completely opposite from one another. Praise the Lord I chose to squash that little devil on my shoulder. In the midst of my lost, I put on a smile and got dropped off to work by a state trooper (yeh, that was fun!!!) and continued my day.

Now I had no savings for a down payment on a car, but I went looking anyway. You know what, God led me right to the car He had waiting for me. It was about a week later, but I drove off the car lot with a new car, no money down and payments that nicely fit my new budget.

If you are in a situation that you are looking at from a visual perspective, take a few minutes today to put on some spiritual glasses.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen in eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

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