From "Fake" to "Faith"
I've had a really great weekend: lots of learning (but not the academic kind!), lots of realization, lots of stillness and searching.
I've had the recent motivation to read Hebrews 11 (Yes, the faith chapter) and match the people mentioned with their actual stories. First I read "By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible" (Heb. 11:3) and followed with the reading of the creation story in Genesis. Though I didn't take notes on it, I found it to be incredibly refreshing and inspiring on my journey of faith. That's really what made me want to do this faith reading thing, I want to cultivate my own faith to be less fakeful and more faithful.
Moving quickly along, I spent a glorious sunday morning reading the second faith person in the faith chapter in verse four: Abel.
"By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks."
At first, I was surprised because I didn't even know Abel was in Heb. 11, since the guy barely gets 5 sentences in the entire Bible anyway... But I learned a lot about faith through him. I corresponded Abel's appearance in Heb. with Gen. 4, where I read the story behind the sacrifice. I discovered that it really does take incredible faith to give God the best of what you have. I'm guilty of being a Cain, giving a surplus of surplus but really saving the goods for myself in case the whole "God thing" back-fires. But I'm humbled by Abel, a man who realized that God deserves and requires what is best from us, for our best.
Though I'm still a controller, a worrier, a nail-biter; I also desire to let my roots run deep into the faithful life God has called me to, even though I don't know what that looks like yet.
Doesn't not knowing what God wants you to do specifically, and choosing to follow Him with the same fervor as if you did constitute a "life of faith" anyway?
I've had the recent motivation to read Hebrews 11 (Yes, the faith chapter) and match the people mentioned with their actual stories. First I read "By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible" (Heb. 11:3) and followed with the reading of the creation story in Genesis. Though I didn't take notes on it, I found it to be incredibly refreshing and inspiring on my journey of faith. That's really what made me want to do this faith reading thing, I want to cultivate my own faith to be less fakeful and more faithful.
Moving quickly along, I spent a glorious sunday morning reading the second faith person in the faith chapter in verse four: Abel.
"By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks."
At first, I was surprised because I didn't even know Abel was in Heb. 11, since the guy barely gets 5 sentences in the entire Bible anyway... But I learned a lot about faith through him. I corresponded Abel's appearance in Heb. with Gen. 4, where I read the story behind the sacrifice. I discovered that it really does take incredible faith to give God the best of what you have. I'm guilty of being a Cain, giving a surplus of surplus but really saving the goods for myself in case the whole "God thing" back-fires. But I'm humbled by Abel, a man who realized that God deserves and requires what is best from us, for our best.
Though I'm still a controller, a worrier, a nail-biter; I also desire to let my roots run deep into the faithful life God has called me to, even though I don't know what that looks like yet.
Doesn't not knowing what God wants you to do specifically, and choosing to follow Him with the same fervor as if you did constitute a "life of faith" anyway?
Cool. I like the idea of taking a Hebrew Faith person and digging deeper into his "story." I look forward to hearing what you discover.
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