NOW Faith

My fortune cookie from last night was a scripture. Never seen a fortune cookie as such in my life. As I kept reading it I realized one missing word – NOW.

Hebrews 11:1 states, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.”

The use of the word ‘now’ is present in many translations.

The Strong’s Concordance definition of ‘now’ states that it is a conjunction. As we have learned, conjunctions are  ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘yet’, etc etc.

So when we read this scripture we can read it as a continuation of the previous chapter as such: ” But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul (Hebrews 10:39) [And] faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1)

Or we can read it as such: [But] faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

When we read it like this it becomes a rebuttal. So I ask, what are we disputing? Could it be the lies of the enemy? Could it be the lies of your inner thoughts? What are you disputing?

Yes, the bills seem to be piling up and it feels like there’s no way to come back from the struggles, and society and eviction notices, and the bank account keeps saying defeated but what do you say to it?

BUT faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.