Hope, the Substance of Faith
One cannot travel in Christian writing circles for very long without encountering the topic of faith and its role in the life of the Christian writer. While faith is critical to pleasing God in our writing and to receiving what He has promised us, the quality of hope is equally important.
Scripture tells us in Hebrews 11:1 that "Faith is the substance of things HOPED for, the evidence of things unseen" (emphasis mine). The NIV translation reads: "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Notice in this verse that hope must precede faith, and that faith is simply giving substance to our hope.
Perhaps an easy way to understand this is by considering a blueprint for a house and the finished house itself. The blueprint represents hope. The finished house represents faith.
In other words, let's suppose you have the blueprint to your dream house, but you have not yet built the actual house. If your friends stop over and you show them the blueprint, you would likely say, "Look at our house."
Now, obviously, the blueprint is not your house. It is the image--or the HOPE--of the actual house. When the house is built, the physical structure will be the substance of the blueprint.
So, hope is the blueprint and faith is the substance given to the blueprint. Faith takes the blueprint (hope) and turns it into substance (reality).
How does this apply to our writing? God places in each of our hearts a blueprint for our writing. This blueprint represents the "house" God wants to build through our writing. We take hold of this blueprint and believe that God will build the writing house. We find Scripture promises that support the building of our writing house, verses like Philippians 4:13. Then we take action to build the writing house by studying, attending conferences, and, of course, by writing.
We are giving substance to our hope.
One day, we will see our writing house being built. Our faith will have given substance to our hope.
And that's my "musing that matters" for today. What's yours? :-)
Blessings,
MaryAnn
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Comments
I am re-reading "The Way Of The Heart" (1981 ,By Henri Nouwen. His thoughts seemed apropos for today's message from Mary Ann. Even if my apropos is inappropriate I think the message is a challenge even perhaps a task.His chapter is titled "Our Wordy World"
"All this is to suggest that words, my own included, have lost their creative power......The result of this is that the main function of the word, which is communication, is no longer realized. The word no longer communicates, no longer fosters communion, no longer creates community and therefore no longer gives life. The word no longer offers trustworthy ground on which people can meet each other and build society."
If he was correct in 1981 and, if his words hold true today,what a challenge to develop in writing: communication,communion,life, community,trust and contribute to building society. WOW! What a task. Blessings, jim connelly
How true! I remember hearing a sermon on hope, and in it, he said that Biblical use of the word hope is not merely "wishing," the way the world looks at it, as in, "Oh, I hope the Padres make it to the World Series next year." Instead, Biblical hope is "a steadfast assurance." That kind of hope is like the blueprint: it gives you a visual of what is to come. Like the blueprint, it may only convey in part, and may be hard for others to understand. I remember the line from the hymn: "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness." Having that kind of hope in our writing, the steadfast assurance that God is in it and will honor, bless, and favor it, is what can give us the faith to keep going! Thank you for this blessed musing, MaryAnn!
Okay, I guess it's time to admit defeat. It just won't show up. However, I have faith that the image is there, just invisible! :-)
MaryAnn, what a perfect piece of writing with an excellent message and analogy. I also enjoyed reading Jim's musings, and I have to admit to a few things; I am living on hope and faith right now. I have many ideas, stories, bits and pieces of memoirs in my mind, but only as I drive long distances to and from work. I have not been able to write because my work hours are long and arduous, and I am coping with grief and survival techniques, but your words are soothing balm, MaryAnn. To the kind Musers who know about my mother's passing, I need to add that my son's future father-in-law passed away a week before my mom, and my ex-husband of 18 years passed away two weeks ago at the age of 56. I think writing would be a source of great consolation to me, in hope and faith.
Skye: yes, writing can be a soothing balm. I began writing after a late-term miscarriage ... first, as a way to cope with grief and then for the joy of creating stories. The first children's book I ever wrote got published.
So, write!
As for blueprints, I worked on the order of the second book in a trilogy I'm writing over the long weekend while we were in Williamsburg. It's not a detailed outline, but a path for me to follow. I know I'll stray from the path at times, but it's good to have something to keep me focused on where the story is going.
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Great analogy, MaryAnn. I believe that hope is one of the most powerful forces on earth. Hope keeps our dreams alive while we await God's perfect timing.