A Day at the Races
"These were
all commended for their faith, yet none of them received
what had been promised. God had planned something better for
us so that only together with us would they be made
perfect." (Heb 11:39-40) Lyn Chaffart Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets (www.sermonillustrator.org/minisermons/ ), Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org,
The list is awesome. All the pillars of our faith are
included. People like Abraham, Moses, Barak, Samson,
Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets . . .. People whose
faith resulted in miraculous healings, miraculous births,
miraculous deliverances from impossible situations . . ..
People who were all commended for being sure of what they
hoped for, being certain of what they did not see . . . (see
Heb. 11:1,2).
After living such lives of great faith, you would think they
would receive great reward, but the Bible tells us that the
only reward they received was "commendation"! Why? Aren't
these people role models that we all are to follow? Didn't
they desire more then to just be "commended" for their
faith? And what does the last line of this verse mean: "only
together with us would they be made perfect."?
I had just read through the list of the "faithfuls", and I
had spent quite a bit of time talking to God about the
desire to develop the kind of faith these people showed,
when I came to this text. I didn't understand it at all. How
could it be that they, whose faith was so much more solid
than my own, could only be made perfect together with me?
I was pondering this, going over and over it in my mind,
asking God for clarification of what this verse was trying
to say, when my eyes dropped ahead a few lines to the first
two verses of Heb.12: "Therefore, since we are surrounded
by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off
everything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked
out for us."
Suddenly the image of the Canadian Olympic team flashed
across my mind and I understood. These great men and women
of faith were not running their races for themselves! They
were part of a team -- God's team! And I am part of this
team, too! In fact, anyone who wears God's uniform is part
of this team! (Did you know that God's uniform is white --
as white as snow?) The only difference between us and the
men and women of faith listed in Heb. 11 is simply that they
ran (and won!) their races much earlier in the games! Though
they had earned their prize, they will not receive it until
every member of God's team has finished. Only then will we
all march forward together to receive our "Gold"!
In the meantime, though I may sometimes feel alone in my
struggles to develop faith, I am not. I have my own "fan
club"! Those who have already won their races now stand by
to cheer me on! But why would they care about me? Because
they want us all to stand up together, no one missing, to
receive our ultimate reward!
Lets think about it another way for a moment. In the midst
of your worst struggles to maintain trust in God, Abraham is
standing right there, calling out to you: "Come on, Lyn! I
know what you're going through is hard. When I was waiting
those 25 years for Isaac to be born, I lost hope sometimes,
too! But God is faithful! He'll be faithful for you too!
Don't make the mistake I made. Keep your eyes fixed on
Jesus!" And on the other side stands Gideon. He cries out,
"Don't look at all those negative circumstances, Lyn!
Remember, I had only 32,000 men to fight an army many times
that size. Then God downsized my army to a mere 300! We were
seriously outnumbered, doomed for failure, our death
warrants already signed! But God is faithful! At His
command, the Mideonites started fighting amongst themselves!
Not a one of my men was lost! Just keep your eyes on Him,
and pretty soon all those bills, that lost job, and the
landlord pounding at your door with eviction notices will
start fighting each other, too!"
With a cheering section like that, who could possibly give
up? Who could possibly lose? So "let us throw off
everything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked
out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and
perfector of our faith . . ." (Heb 12:1-2). Then, in the
end, we, too, will take our places beside Able, Enoch, Noah
and Samuel, and we will all receive our ultimate prize
together!
". . . only together with us would they be made perfect."
(Heb 11:40)