Faith is seeing with the eyes of the heart
Having undergone an exercise which consists of trying to define what faith is, and after having described it as being the fact of “believing without seeing” or “believing without having seen”, I would like today address a second aspect of this mystery which exists in the life of the believer. If I remain convinced that faith, for its effectiveness must be dissociated from our physical senses, the fact remains that we could not decently approach such a subject without studying the life of the Father of faith, that is to say -say Abraham. So this is what I would like to do NOW while reading a text:
Hebrews 11:12-13
12 Therefore from one man, already worn out in body, was born a seed as numerous as the stars of heaven, as the sand which is on the seashore, and which cannot be numbered. 13 In faith they all died, not having obtained the things promised; but they saw and greeted them from afar, recognizing that they were strangers and travelers on the earth.
In this text we are told ‘it was in faith that they all died, without having obtained the things promised; but they saw and greeted them from afar.’ This statement intrigued me. Indeed, if faith is believing without having seen, if this corresponds to not walking by sight, how is it that the father of faith, Abraham, ‘saw’ the things that were promised to him, before they existed?
I suggest today that what we see through the eyes of our heart determines what we are, what we will be, and what heaven gives us. If a person sees themselves “small”, they will be “small”. If she sees herself as big, she will be big. If she sees herself sick, she will be, and so on. I think I can say in fact that when we make a request to God, we can visualize, imagine, ‘see’ in advance what we are going to receive. What we see at that moment will determine our fulfillment. This is true in prayer, but also in our everyday life. When unemployment knocks on our door, how do we perceive this situation? Do we see this as an opportunity to reorient ourselves professionally? To bounce back? Or do we perceive this as professional death? Likewise when illness strikes us, do we see it as the end of all things or as an opportunity for God to manifest his healing power and be a testimony?
Abraham, during his lifetime, received several promises. It is not the purpose of our study today to explore the details, but we can cite a few. The father of faith was promised that he would become a great Nation, that he would be blessed, that his name would be great and finally that he would be a source of blessing. At least that is what we can read in the first verses of the book of Genesis in chapter 12. He was also promised that his posterity would be as numerous as the stars of the sky and the grains of sand of the earth, that this last would go into captivity, and that the land of Canaan (the land which you see) would be their inheritance. During his lifetime, Abraham did not see all his things accomplished. We could indeed think that the birth of Isaac, the son of the promise, represents the premises of the first promise: “I will make of you a great nation”. Although he did not see the materialization of what God promised, Abraham saw these promises and he welcomed them. Also, I think this principle is still inherent. We must see in our minds the things promised, greet them, and walk with the assurance that they will come true.
So, faith could be defined as follows: “Faith is seeing with the eyes of the heart”. It is therefore a question of “seeing” in one’s heart, in one’s soul, in one’s mind, the fulfillment of divine promises to us. This is exactly what the father of faith, Abraham did. In this way, we enter into an irreversible process by which these promises will materialize.
Finally, walking by faith therefore means having our eyes fixed on the promises. A person who is not able to conceptualize what he believes in, will never be able to experience it in this physical world. God has given Man the ability to bring into existence that which does not exist, and this is done by faith!
Let’s open our hearts, let’s keep the faith.
Shalom,
