Hope is the Substance

I recently listened to a sermon by T.D. Jakes on Faith. He referenced Hebrews 11:1 in his sermon. It’s a scripture that I’ve heard all my life but as he broke it down in his special way, it spoke to my soul. Stirred so much within me that I have so far listened to it 5 times.

Hope is the substance of faith. Let me break that down. The substance is the material that makes the matter and in this reference, hope is what breeds faith.

As I shared with a friend recently, if you lose hope you cannot have faith. Hope is the substance and anytime we believe that it’s hopeless even for a split second, we are extinguishing our faith. We must protect our hope no matter what it looks like or what it costs us.

We must be careful what we expose ourselves to that will make us believe it’s hopeless. The news is the best source for making us believe the world is hopeless. I know in recent news that many women feel hopeless. I understand as it’s a story very close to my heart and personal. But feeling hopeless is just a feeling. Thinking it’s hopeless is just a thought. Feelings and thoughts both pass. Believing it’s hopeless is diminishing your faith. And in your faith, there is a fight. The fight to keep hoping, keep believing, and keep pressing on to better days.

Believing that something is hopeless is also a distraction because while we are wallowing in our sorrows or pity party, life is still going on and we sometimes miss opportunities because we are so focused on the hopelessness. As I have written before, a drowning man doesn’t know if anyone else is drowning and doesn’t care because all he can think about is himself drowning. Meanwhile, he’s missed opportunities to save himself because he cannot focus on anything but drowning.

Don’t buy into hopelessness. Guard yourself against the news, negative Nancy, Debbie downer, social media, phone calls, and texts. If any of these bring hopelessness, remove it. Our hope and our faith are more important than any of these things. Don’t get distracted and miss opportunities that may never come again.