The Bible is full of stories of people who have done extraordinary things for their faith. If you read Hebrews, chapter 11, you immediately come across stories of people who lived and died for their faith in God. It is often times easy to forget about the humanness of the characters in the Bible, to make them into some fictional super-hero that we could never be. However, each of the characters represented in this chapter of Hebrews; although remembered for doing extraordinary things, were all ordinary people who also made mistakes, like you and I. If you go through the stories of each of these people you do not have to look very hard to find mistakes they made. Their mistakes are not remembered on account of their faith. These people were remembered for obeying God.
We all have a choice in how we will be remembered. We are remembered for the things we say and the things we do. If I want to be remembered as somebody who is an obedient follower of God, than I need to portray that with my words and actions. Thinking about doing good things is not enough, but actually doing them is what separates the posers from the believers. Having faith is believing in something you cannot prove exists. If you truly believe in something your actions should represent that belief. The people in Hebrews 11 understood this, they believed in God, they believed that He was the creator of the universe, and respected His authority. Because they believed in him, their actions represented their faith. Although they made mistakes, we remember these people for what they said, and what they did to glorify God. What are you going to be remembered for?
Hebrews 11 is often called “the cloud of witnesses”. A witness in this case is someone who set an example for us to live by. Their stories are meant to give us strength and courage, to know that we can live by faith, that we can express the Gospel through our words and actions, and not be ashamed. Hebrews 12:1-3 says this:
“1 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, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Our purpose in this life is to run, with perseverance, the race that is marked out for us; fixing our eyes on Jesus. That seems so simple to do. As I live out my faith, there have been many times my eyes have lost focus of Jesus, I lost heart, and stopped running the race with perseverance. To run with perseverance means, run to win. Maybe some of you have run a race before, or have just run the mile at school. You know that toward the end of the race you are tired, slowing down and walking sounds so good. That’s not running with perseverance. Running with perseverance is to finish the race faster than you started. Running with perseverance is to run to win.
As you go out and live your life you have to ask yourself if you want to win. Do you want to be remembered like these people in Hebrews chapter 11 that are remembered for doing extraordinary things for their faith, or are you happy just settling with the material things that will never satisfy?
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