Sunday, May 17, 2015

Hebrews 11:13-16 -- On Looking Forward With Faith

"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.
And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.
But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city."
Hebrews 11:13-16


This chapter runs through a list of people from the scriptures that accomplished things through faith.  And, as these verses say, then they died, not having received the promises of God.  Of course we receive a lot from God in our lives, but his promises of eternal life and never ending happiness aren't things that FedEx can deliver.  They require patience, and faith... which all these people had.  And they looked forward to the day when all promises would be fulfilled.
We're in a similar situation.  God grants us multitudes of blessings, but some big things, like resurrection for instance, are things that by their very nature, we can't have yet.  But we, like they, desire a better place than this.  A place where people don't harm each other.  A place where people are working together towards good; a place where we belong.  And, as it also says right here, God has prepared a place for us.  A place where all the promises can and will be fulfilled.
Today, let's do as the people from this chapter did, and know that God is faithful.  Let's trust him to keep his promises.  Let's lives our lives as they did, looking forward to the perfect days ahead, knowing that they will be there when we arrive. :)  Let's work towards something better.

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