Author Archives: Nannette

About Nannette

Wife to The Sweetheart, Mom to the Fantastic Six, Nana to six of the cutest littles on the planet, Author, The Daniel Fast, A Devotional. UPCI ministers.

Faith, Hupostasis and Elegchos, Oh My!

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Who doesn’t love the Faith chapter in the Book of Hebrews?! “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 NKJV.

We want to believe. Let’s look at it a little more closely: Faith is the substance of things hoped for. The word translated substance comes from the Greek hupostasis, “a placing or setting under, a substructure or foundation”. In Hebrews 3:14 and 2 Corinthians 9:4, it appears as the word confidence.

Hupostasis is a substructure, or foundation that, although it may be hidden, exists beneath and supports what is visible!

Just as the foundation of a building is not seen, but the building above the ground is visible, the foundation, the hupostasis, is very real and is vital in supporting the building!

I became so excited when I discovered this explanation.

Our faith is that foundation, that confidence, that even though we can’t see it, we know that it’s there. It’s what holds everything together. It’s sure, it’s tested.

Now, “…the evidence of things not seen.”

And evidence? The Greek there we won’t attempt to pronounce, elegchos, which is translated “a proof or conviction”

Faith, hupostasis and elegchos, oh my!

So, Faith is the substance, foundation and confidence, of things hoped for,  the evidence, or proof and conviction, of things not seen!

The Wycliffe Bible Commentary says, “Faith is trust in the unseen. It is not trust in the unknown, for we may know by faith what we cannot see with the eye.”

Take a look at the picture below of my youngest son, Korey Ross, taken in Jurmala, Latvia, in Eastern Europe. In this world things are not always as they seem. We get caught up in the cares of this life, we want more, think bigger is better and faster is cooler.

But as the picture reveals, we can be easily deceived. This world can trap us quickly and leave us empty. Thankfully Korey wasn’t fooled and didn’t invite the young cardboard lady home for dinner…

korey and the blonde

Where does your trust lie? Is it in the unseen? Where is your confidence? What do you hope for?“For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.” Hebrews 3:14 NASB.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus’ Name

Kingdom2Sharing with Mama Moments Monday 

 

 

Put on Love…

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285517_1851092400350_8305389_nSharing a little story from an encounter while we were overseas in Riga, Latvia. Enjoy!

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” Matthew 7:1 NIV.

One day during outreach in Riga, Latvia, we came upon a wedding in the park. Nothing unusual about that, the weekends were always busy with weddings in the center of the capital city. This park was right next to the Freedom Monument and the Lock Bridge. Couples would bring a padlock with their names inscribed and the date of their wedding and lock it on the infamous bridge and then ceremoniously throw the key into the canal, sealing the deal with a kiss! Vowing that their love for each other was eternal.

We also were celebrating an anniversary that summer and The Sweetheart bought two locks for us and had our names and our wedding date inscribed on them. After a trip to the sea for a carefree day of sightseeing, our missions team went with us to the Lock Bridge to celebrate. It was a great memory to commemorate our 32 wedding anniversary (and my 50th birthday!) and we brought home the other lock as a keepsake.

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Back to the wedding in the park. We noticed a couple of unusual characters as we walked through that day. They were not moving, not one muscle. Covered completely in gold, they were human statues. Even little children would try to distract them but they were complete professionals, nothing moved them.

Golden Girl

How often do we judge by outward appearances? We are all about how we look and how others look. In reality, it is a shame. It is hard for us to get past the “outside” to see the “inside”.

If we see someone in clothing that isn’t cool or name-brand, we automatically judge them. It is so ingrained in us from constant media influences we don’t even realize we are doing it…but we are. We judge where they live, what kind of car they have, their job, social status, even their choice of cell phone.

But Jesus is exactly the opposite. “But the Lord said to Samuel, …The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 NIV.

He teaches us that what we SEE is not necessarily what they ARE, and it works both ways. We may see someone so very well put together and think they have it ALL…but inside they are broken, hurting and their life is a mess.

Then we may see someone who has nothing, their clothes are not the latest fashion, they don’t have the nicest house or latest model car but inside they have peace, joy and the things that matter most: a relationship with Almighty God. Again, it works both ways.

“Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” 1 Peter 3:3,4 ESV.

[Tweet “What is precious to God? A gentle and quiet spirit, that comes from the inside and shows on the outside.”]

No matter what your adorning is as far as material goods, your spiritual adorning should show forth the attributes of the One who has called you to live, love and serve in this life; to make a difference in others.

The verse in Matthew 7 doesn’t say we cannot judge whether sinful behavior is actually sinful or not. It is saying we had better be ready to be judged by the same standard of judgment!

“For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” Matthew 7:2-5 NLT.

So this is a warning against hypocrisy. Before we start pointing out what is wrong with our neighbor’s life, we had better take a good look at our own.

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Colossians 3:12-14 ESV.

Put on love.

Kingdom2

 

The First, The Last, The Chosen

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“’Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.” Matthew 20: 15, 16 NKJV.

Have you read the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard? They were certainly an unhappy group of people. Seems they went to work for a landowner in his vineyard, agreeing on a denarius (or a penny) per day as their pay. Some started early in the morning, others at the third hour, the sixth hour, and others the ninth.

Then at the eleventh hour the owner went out and found even more laborers and asked them why they were not working. They said no one had hired them so he told them to go to work and “…whatever is right you will receive.” Matthew 20:7 NKJV.

When it was time to pay the workers, beginning with those who had come in at the eleventh hour, he gave them a denarius. So when those that came in early in the morning, and worked all day long, they then assumed because they had worked a lot longer than everyone else that they would receive more.

But they also just received a denarius.

So they complained to the landowner saying, “‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’”

“But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way…Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good? So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called but few chosen.” Matthew 20: 12-16 NKJV.

There is a great lesson here for us today just as there was for the Jewish population Jesus was teaching. He was telling them that the Gentiles had just as prominent a place in the Kingdom as they did; God’s chosen people. How could that be? But yet it was true…they were being grafted in the Vine!

The same applies to us today…there is no distinction in the Church.

[Tweet “We don’t get to pick and choose who comes into the Kingdom! “]

The Door is wide open, He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and we should be standing close to the Door ushering everyone in, equally and quickly, before it is too late.

There is also another distinction in the first and the last and that is servanthood. If we really want to be found doing the King’s business we will desire to be last in the Kingdom.

Mark 9:35. “And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”

The First The Last The Chosen

What are our true motives as members of the Body of Christ? Do we feel as if we are owed something? That because we have served God all of our lives, because we were raised in The Church, that we should receive a bigger reward?

Do we truly have the heart of a servant?

Are we aware that our only purpose on this earth is to tell others about Jesus Christ?

Go, preach, tell.

We have much to be grateful for, knowing we have been grafted in the Vine! Let us not worry about who came in first, who worked the hardest, the longest or should have a bigger crown.

Let us just be about our Father’s business, sharing the Gospel of the Kingdom to a lost and dying world.

Give hope to the hopeless and strength to the weary; give Jesus.

Kingdom2

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