Travis' Post
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
(Hebrews 11:13-16 ESV)
This passage reminds me of how God wants us to treat sin. While the Israelites referred to above were fleeing their old homes to receive God's promised land, we must flee from sin and our old lives to receive God's promised life. The important part of this is the mindset that these people had. It says, "If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return." I know that whenever I try to make a change towards loving God and living accordingly, I always think of the pleasure cost. I think of the sin I am giving up. As a result, I typically stumble back into that sin. This passage clearly says that if we step forward towards God's promise with his promise in mind, we will reach it. At the same time, the old things will be left behind. This is a complete change in mindset from a "don't do that" process to a "let's do that" process. As Hebrews 11 is sometimes called the "Hall of Faith," the bottom line of this passage is that it takes faith to step towards God's promises in our lives. If we act in that faith we will not be disappointed because, even "if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself." (2 Timothy 2:13 ESV)
Grace and Peace!
-Travis
This passage tramples much of our modern perspective of nationalism. By faith in their earthly homeland, countries are fighting over land, fighting over religion, fighting for democracy, etc. But like Abraham who left his homeland to seek out the promises of God, the Christian is neither American nor Iranian, neither Egyptian nor Libyan, neither Chinese nor Japanese, neither Israeli nor Palestinian.
ReplyDeleteWe are strangers and aliens in our lands. Democracy and freedom are but temporary fixes. We desire something better than the earthly kingdoms. We look to the kindgom of heaven. By faith, we can learn to see the world as God sees it, and not as man sees it.
I would have to totally agree with Travis on this one. It gets so hard to dwell on the past as you try to move forward, and it can be so easy to just fall back into what you're used to, what feels comfortable to you. I have always had a major problem with complacency, whether it be getting stuck in a sin or even just a general lifestyle habit that I don't like, I always have a hard time looking ahead and moving out of it.
ReplyDeleteOne of the big parts of this passage to me was verse 13. These people all died in faith, able to see the things promised from afar, but never receiving them. The key is that they "acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth." Once we can take faith in God and look beyond all of these earthly things that hang right in front of our face we will be able to have a taste of the promised land in this life. As Owen said, we are aliens in our own lands, and to me it seems like the world is always screaming that there is something more for us to look for. The kingdom of heaven is more amazing than we could ever imagine, so if we step forward with our own interpretation of God's incredible promise at the forefront of our minds, we will be able to truly live the life God has called us to live.
In this passage, I find the faith of the men represented to be something really impressive. This world is becoming evermore about instant gratification and pursuing very tangible goals. These men of the Bible go after something quite different. They understood the promises of God, and poured their entire lives into endeavors that they never expected to see come to fruition.
ReplyDeleteThe beginning of this chapter starts with "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see." This verse fits very well, because these men lived by blind faith.
The Christian faith is challenging in the fact that we are already promised the ending. Yet we have no idea what we are going to go through on the way there. But as long as we, like the men of faith, desire a heavenly country, God will be faithful. This is a simple, yet huge challenge. As Travis and Andrew have already said, this world has so many things that fight for our attention. All Satan wants to do is make us lose focus on what God has promised us, so that we fall back into what we already know. It takes a strong desire for God to not lose sight of our goal.
"These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth."
ReplyDeleteI want to be a stranger and exile here on earth. I belong to something greater; I belong to the kingdom of God. Too often we are complacent with sin and even strive to "fit in" with society and social norms.
In reality, we know right from wrong. We have grown up with the rules of the Church and yet we choose to ignore them sometimes to save face with our "friends."
As this Lenten season approaches, I pray that we may grow toward Christ and listen to him all the time rather than just when it is convenient. I pray that we do not justify our sin, but that we can acknowledge it and then forget that sin and move on down God's path.