This morning I am reflecting on some verses from the Letter to the Hebrews 11:1-2,39-40 NIV:
[1] "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. [2] This is what the ancients were commended for."
[39] "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, [40] since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."
Immediately following these verses in Chapter 11, the author then continues into the following - Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV:
[1] "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, [2] fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. [3] Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
This reminds me of a theme that I was trying to assimilate into my life - putting my faith into action. In every instance listed in between verses 2 and 39 in chapter 11, the heroes of the faith, listed by the author, had to put their faith into action. It was that stepping into the unknown, the following of God in spite of human wisdom or fear that enabled them to experience God's provision, direction and character at new levels. They were always led by the Lord into deeper revelation of His faithfulness, His goodness and His love and mercy. Here is a quote regarding Abraham - Hebrews 11:8 NIV: "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."
God's call to us to trust Him, to follow Him, to believe in Him will lead us into unknown and uncharted territory, even into the wilderness on occasion, but it is always for the purpose of revelation of Him, and there will always be provision, guidance and strength for the journey. As the author writes, 'faith is confidence in what we hope for, and assurance about what we do not yet see'!
The author then continues and urges us to throw off everything that hinders us, and the sin that so easily entangles us, so that we can run the race marked out for us. It is interesting, He speaks of a course marked out for us, but previously was speaking about assurance for things we do not see. I don't believe this means running blindly, or in the dark, but rather with short notice. A good analogy might be as follows: If we are running a cross country race over a course we have yet to run, every turn and obstacle we encounter will be new, previously unseen, but we would not be running with our eyes closed, rather we would see these turns and obstacles as they came into view while running. We would not have a long-term perspective, or knowledge, but would rather have to deal with each situation as we came to it, but trusting that the finish line was achievable, and within our abilities.
Back to the encouragement to throw off everything that hinders - the question is what hinders us in our pursuit of God's call and plans for our lives? I think fear is one of the main things that hinders us! Fear that we are not able, fear that we are not strong enough, fear that we will mess up, fear that others will not like us, fear that we won't belong, fear that we are not prepared. It is interesting, in almost all the people listed in Chapter 11, and in their situations, almost none of them had the experience nor training to be successful, often times it seemed that God chose them specifically so that He would be Glorified, for their success was clearly not related to ability or strength. Gideon considered himself the least of the smallest tribe and was a man who lived in fear, yet with a force of 300, he routed an enemy army of vastly greater strength (see Judges 6 & 7) That being said, God also knew that with Him they were capable! So, if you are feeling incapable, that fits in quite nicely with the other champions of the faith!
A second thing that can hinder us is unbelief! In fact, going back to the story of Gideon, when an Angel of the Lord first spoke to Gideon, his answer was one of unbelief and actual accusation against God - Judges 6:12-13 NIV:
[12] When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. ”
[13] “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, 'Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
Wow, what a great prayer of faith - NOT! This is the exact thing, the exact attitude that we are called to throw off! Throw off the accusations against God! Throw off unbelief, and looking at what has not happened yet! Don't feast on what hasn't happened, but instead look forward to the promises of God and the banquet to come, often under the very eyes of our enemies (Ps 23:5)! He is calling you forward in Him!
Finally, throw off the sin that so easily entangles us. This sin is meant to trip us up, to cause us to lose heart, to lose focus, to even get us to disqualify ourselves from the race! As Paul says in his letter to the Philippians 3:13-14 NIV: "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, [14] I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." All our sin is in the past (as of this very moment) and all of it has been paid for, and brought under the blood of Christ Jesus! We have been forgiven, so let go of the unforgiveness of yourself, your thoughts and memories of past failures and press forward today - its a new Day!
The Lord never calls us into things to see us fail! He knows what is in us and what we are capable in Him! As the Author of Hebrews writes - "God had (has) planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." He is calling us to something better and it is within us, relying on Him, that they will be made perfect!
Wow!
So today, I am encouraged to press into the unknown in response to God's call! I am encouraged to run the race marked out for me, which I see as I run forward! I am encouraged to throw off fear and unbelief and sin, and press on toward the goal to with the prize which is life eternal in relationship with God, both here and in the age to come! I am greatly encouraged to put my faith into action!
Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment