“You see the glory, but you don’t know the story.” I have always wanted to say that! Sounds like a cliché… but a very, very true cliché. The book of Hebrews is amazing. It’s especially amazing when you stop and think of how our awesome God gives us the key to faith… Faith takes us out of the natural, and places us in the realm of the supernatural.
There is no other place in the Bible where the Holy Spirit defines what faith really is, and gives us examples of people who lived out their lives in faith. The Bible tells us that many of them never received all that God had promised, but these Old Testament saints demonstrated what faith is and how it behaves. They hung on to the promises, and no matter what… they never compromised or gave up. I love the New Living Translation…
“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.” Hebrews 11: 1-3
The beginning point is believing He is who He says He is. The end point is believing that He will do what He says He’s going to do. Faith is grounded in God’s promises. The Bible tells us that when we were saved, we were given the hope of resurrection life with God for all eternity (Romans 8: 24). In other words, we’re living in a hope so real… we base our lives on these promises.
We see that having a steadfast faith in God doesn’t guarantee a life of marshmallows and a carefree life! When you really think about it, our faith sometimes (well, most of the time) guarantees the opposite! It almost guarantees us some form of abuse in the world. Can somebody say amen?
“But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning. Some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.” Hebrews 11: 35-38
More on faith…
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