"And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of"---------- (Heb. 11:32)
Faith is not always revealed in what you have. It is also revealed in what you gave up.
The list of people of faith in the latter part of Hebrews 11 is far longer than any of us can imagine. One thing about the list is that there are two categories of people which the succeeding verses of our text reveal. In modern charismatic evangelicalism, one group would be asked to speak in big conventions, have wildly popular television, radio and print media "ministries." The other, however, would never be asked to speak anywhere, never gain an arena-filled church, and if they did right a book, no one would buy it. In short, one in great demand, the other not.
People flock to the charismatic achievers, the smooth personalities who can bring to them a resume which is full of nothing but great success stories. Yet while Hebrews 11 speaks of such people, it also speaks of the "failures," the people who not only did not escape with just their lives; they did not escape at all. They were, "tortured....Others had trial of mockings and scourgings...and imprisonments. They were stoned, they were sawn in two....They wondered about," not in Cadillacs and $500.00 suits, but rather, "in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented." But then the Holy Spirit says something which should give you and me a perspective not of this world, "of whom the world was not worthy."
The "success" of people of faith is not based on their spread sheet. It is based on their selflessness. They gave up the "American Dream" to obtain, "the city which has foundations whose builder and make is God....They desire a better, that is, a heavenly...." Now, you may have much or you may have little, but remember the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ when He responded to Peter's question, "See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?... Assurdely I say to you, that...everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My Name's sake shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are the first will be last, and the last first."
Father, in Jesus' Name, always, always I desire Your perspective. Amen.
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News, Commentary: www.apf327.blogspot.com
Faith is not always revealed in what you have. It is also revealed in what you gave up.
The list of people of faith in the latter part of Hebrews 11 is far longer than any of us can imagine. One thing about the list is that there are two categories of people which the succeeding verses of our text reveal. In modern charismatic evangelicalism, one group would be asked to speak in big conventions, have wildly popular television, radio and print media "ministries." The other, however, would never be asked to speak anywhere, never gain an arena-filled church, and if they did right a book, no one would buy it. In short, one in great demand, the other not.
People flock to the charismatic achievers, the smooth personalities who can bring to them a resume which is full of nothing but great success stories. Yet while Hebrews 11 speaks of such people, it also speaks of the "failures," the people who not only did not escape with just their lives; they did not escape at all. They were, "tortured....Others had trial of mockings and scourgings...and imprisonments. They were stoned, they were sawn in two....They wondered about," not in Cadillacs and $500.00 suits, but rather, "in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented." But then the Holy Spirit says something which should give you and me a perspective not of this world, "of whom the world was not worthy."
The "success" of people of faith is not based on their spread sheet. It is based on their selflessness. They gave up the "American Dream" to obtain, "the city which has foundations whose builder and make is God....They desire a better, that is, a heavenly...." Now, you may have much or you may have little, but remember the Words of our Lord Jesus Christ when He responded to Peter's question, "See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?... Assurdely I say to you, that...everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My Name's sake shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. But many who are the first will be last, and the last first."
Father, in Jesus' Name, always, always I desire Your perspective. Amen.
************
News, Commentary: www.apf327.blogspot.com
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
