“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1)
Every woman has a signature dish she makes. The one that is the favorite of family and friends. The dish you don’t have to call anyone to the dinner table twice for. It’s the dish people want you to bring to a family dinner or a potluck gathering. My signature dish happens to be meatballs. My meatballs are a little larger than the size of a golf ball. I stuff them with cheese, so when they cook in the oven some of the cheese oozes out. My sauce is tomatoey and sweet. For a girl with German descent, I must admit that I make a mean Italian meatball. Go figure!
You’re probably wondering what meatballs have to do with faith. Good question. Here’s the answer. When my meatballs are cooking in the oven, the aroma from them permeates through the house. That makes our mouths water, because we know that smell is a signal of what is to come. We trust that the good aroma is a prelude to something that will be delicious.
That is precisely what faith is. It is the aroma that preludes the goodness of God. Our faith is the expectation that God will do all he has promised to do. Faith leads us to be optimistic that we are going to soon sit at God’s table and partake of something very special. Faith is the fragrance that causes us to enjoy God’s goodness before we see it. Just as we enjoy the smell of something in the oven before it is set on the table, so faith gives us the foretaste of that which is coming. This is especially true when it comes to heaven. The bible tells us heaven will have eternal light, streets of gold, a river clear as crystal. It also tells us there will be no pain, tears, sorrow or death in heaven. Things our human eyes cannot see – yet.
The word “assurance” in Hebrews 11:1 refers to the reality that we place in the promises of God. By faith, we believe a reality before we see it with our eyes. Faith makes what we cannot, or have not yet seen, a viable actuality to us. At this point in time we have not seen God, nor angels, nor heaven; but we have faith in them because the word of God talks about them, and that faith leads us to act as if we had seen them. Faith takes the yet unseen and makes it real in our mind.
So, faith is like meatballs cooking in the oven. Faith gives off an aroma that seals the authenticity that at a future time we will enjoy and savor all that God has promised us – when he calls us to His table.
Darlene