By faith others – “faithfulness”

The Word for today:
Hebrews 13.9-25

mark this:
Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated-- of whom the world was not worthy--wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:36-40)

Yesterday, I wrote that the persons enshrined in God’s Hall of Faith might seem, to us, to be less than likely candidates:

Who invited a con artist like Jacob to this party? Or a womanizer and vow-breaker like Samson? Or an adulterer like David? Or a prostitute like Rahab?

There are many persons in the Bible who make us wonder what God sees in them. Our befuddlement is compounded when God commends them amongst the heroes of faith.

Not many of us would have voted them into the Hall of Faith. If anything, we might have voted them into the Hall of Shame.

There’s a person you know who, to you, isn’t just less likely but least likely to ever have his portrait in the Hall of Faith. You’ve concluded that there’s no way that such a misfit could ever make it.

But just for the heck of it, I want you to envision this person’s portrait hanging in the Great Hall. The best way to do that is to walk into your bathroom, look into your mirror, and behold a hero of faith!

Then read what God said about the unnamed “others” in the Hall:

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets-- who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated. (Hebrews 11:32-37)

Put yourself in the shoes of these others. What evidence did they see in their lives of the great faith that God would someday honor by including them among his Heroes of Faith. They weren’t, like the heroes mentioned in the preceding verses, conquerors who put armies to flight. They did not witness the resurrection of their loved ones. They did not enforce justice or stop the mouths of lions.

Instead their faith brought them mockery, affliction, and mistreatment. No signs and wonders, no acclaim, no miracles, no success at all. Many of them might have thought that their failures proved how weak their faith had been. In their very own eyes, I’ll bet that many of these “others” saw themselves as the last persons on the planet whom God would commend for faith.

Sound like anyone you know?

But in a very deep way, these “failures” had greater faith than the conquerors and the miracle makers. How so?

When we remember that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen (Hebrews 11:1), then these who remain faithful to God without tangible success are in a realm of faith which Jesus placed in a special category of its own:

Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe." Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:27-29)

We think of faith in terms of drama -- as something akin to magic, as something that moves mountains. But that’s not the faith that is most precious to God. What honors God more than dramatic faith is expressed by a simpler and more modest word: faithfulness.

There’s an unrecognized hero of faith-fulness in that mirror of yours. She reads God's Word, day by day, and stays true to Him.

She reads his letters every day, and remains true to Him while he’s away. That’s what a hero of faith looks like.

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