“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” (Hebrews 11:1-2)
If God were to commend you, what would most catch His attention? Would it be your courage, your goodness, your knowledge of the bible, your ability to amass riches? Maybe, you might think of your abilities and achievements, your good deeds, even your service in His name. As desirable as some of these might be, they are not the subject of God’s most ardent attention. What is it that captures God’s heart? The author of Hebrews devotes an entire chapter to the one attribute He desires from us: faith.
Over a dozen examples are given, citing lives lived “by faith.” Not by being clever, intellectual pursuits, or logical analysis. Not by effectiveness in education, in science, in caring for others, in preaching or writing. Certainly not by judging or controlling others, by manipulative planning, or fancies of our own opinions.
God’s commendation is for living by faith. Faithfulness matters to God. Our God is always faithful and desires to see this in His children who are created in His own image. God desires a faith that guides our actions, not just our beliefs. It is by faith that we understand and relate to the world around us (v 3). By faith, we please God (v 6), obey what God tells us, not what we imagine to please us (v 7-12).
It is a hard teaching but by faith, we live and we die, sometimes without receiving – in this life – everything promised. By faith we live as aliens and strangers to this world, not possessed by it (v 13).
By faith, we endure tests of the most difficult kinds (v 17). By faith, we look to the future (v 20). It is by faith, we endure mistreatment and hardship (v 24). By faith, we regard earthly treasures as inferior to knowing God (v 26). By faith we persevere and flee that which seeks to hold us in bondage (v 27,29). By faith, we find victory over our enemies, true justice in an unjust world, protection from the evil one; we find strength in weakness, perseverance, freedom from fear, and purpose in suffering (v 30-38). By faith, we believe that even if we don’t receive what we are promised while on earth, that God has something better planned for us (v 39).
Let’s pause for a moment in stillness before God, and ask Him to evaluate the activities of our life and the motives of our heart. Ask Him to reveal the areas of our life where we shrink back and consider what is right in our eyes, rather than His. The one thing God desires of you is to live by faith, in and through whatever difficult situation confronting and perplexing you. Let’s determine our lives be marked…by faith.
