All these great people died in faith. They did not get the things that God promised his people, but they saw them coming far in the future and were glad. They said they were like visitors and strangers on earth. When people say such things, they show they are looking for a country that will be their own. If they had been thinking about the country they had left, they could have gone back. But they were waiting for a better country—a heavenly country. So God is not ashamed to be called their God, because he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16, New Century Version)
For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been writing about
chapter 11 in the book of Hebrews. It seems to be the chapter all about faith.
And since “faith” is my word for the year, it made sense to me to bore you with
this chapter. (I promise this is the last post on it.)
I especially like these verses because they remind me what
faith really means. So many non-believers scoff at Christians for their faith. I suppose I can understand that. I mean, we pray to God in total faith that He hears
our prayers and will answer them. But God knows more than us mortal sinners do.
Maybe we can see, only off in the distance, the answer
to our prayers. And then we realize that God is not going to grant us what we
want, or even sometimes what we need. But faith is knowing that it is okay,
that God still loves us, cherishes us, and holds us close as His children.
Side note:
The church pictured above is the Estonian Evangelical Martin Luther Church in
Gleason, Wisconsin, not too far down the road from where I live. It is the
first Estonian Church built in the US in 1914. It’s gonna take a lot of faith to
bring this antique back to life.
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