Saturday, July 6: Hebrews 11– By faith…

By faith… if ever there was a chapter devoted to a theme, it is this one. Over and over, 17 times by my count, those two words are repeated with 17 different specific examples of men and women who lived by faith.
By faith people accomplished great things for God and God’s family. By faith people faced death in horrific ways. By faith people passed tests.
We are told, without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (6).  And the litany of people mentioned in this chapter lived by faith receiving little or no earthy reward for their faith. Yet the thrust of the chapter is that they all received the reward of faith… connection and eternity with Almighty God, the God of the Bible.
As so my thoughts turn to my life… where do I display the faith that these men and women displayed? In what ways is my faith being lived out concretely? If this chapter was being updated, what examples could be used of my life so that my name could be an example of living by faith? These are my meditations for today…
Lord, I feel unworthy of You. My life and my ‘by faith’ pales in contrast to these giants of the faith. Even as I pray this, Lord, I recognize a problem. These men and women weren’t ‘giants’ per se, t hey were everyday people like me who lived by faith. They were extraordinary. They were regular, real people who humbly lived by faith.
Lord, I may not ever be recognized by others in a list like this, but to live ‘by faith’ in You, Father Son and Holy Spirit, that is my desire…

Lord, may my words of faith and my thoughts of faith blossom into a life of faith. To You be the honor and the glory. Through Christ, my Lord, I pray. Amen.

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