The economy, the job market, Swine flu just to name a few stress points. We live in times that are stressful. This should cause us to rely upon faith more than ever. But sometimes it is easier to question our faith rather than depend on it.
Faith is the only mandatory and essential response to God. A person lacking in faith can never please God. Hebrews 11:6 says "but without faith, it is impossible to please God." In time of stress, shouldn't it be a given that we want to please God.
Faith comes from the Greek verb pistis when means "to believe." The word plays in to the idea of trust and confidence. The writer of Hebrews uses examples of this faith in the entire eleventh chapter. These lives of our biblical heroes and heroines reflect the behavior that God wants us to all have. Hebrews 11 gives us two characteristics that God wills all of His children to demonstrate:
1) Faith should be our substance to live for. In other words, it should be the foundation for all we do. We should not only depend upon our faith in tough times or only in church times, but rather EVERYTHING we do, EVERYTHING we say, EVERYTHING we think should be grounded in the solid, unshakable confidence that God is faithful to deliver on His promises.
2) Furthermore, our faith should be a commitment to God no matter what happens in our lives. In a bad economy, through disease and through stressful moments our faith should not be a "blind leap in the dark" hoping that God is there for us. Rather our faith is the evidence of at work in our lives about all the unseen things God prepares and does for us.
Life is not easy. And we know in Revelation 12:11 the Word of God says that daily Satan attempts to accuse and condemn us before God. During tough times, Satan will do everything he can to make us doubt our faith. But the writer of Hebrews neatly wraps up his lesson in faith chapter 12. In spite of all of life's issues, the writer tells us to "lay aside every weight (stress, economy, job issues, health) . . . and run with endurance the race (life) that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith . . .
We are never alone in life. The verses in Hebrews 12 also speaks of "a cloud of witnesses" that root us on. Keep the faith.
Blessings,
Jody
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