Hebrews 11 describes the "great cloud of witnesses surrounding us"--people who trusted God and continued on even though they "died in faith, without receiving the promises [of God's future plan], but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance." Now we can clearly see how God used their lives to move history toward His purposes, but they never had the benefit of seeing what God would ultimately do with their actions. They only knew that God was trustworthy, so they put their faith in Him and kept moving forward.
It's probably better that we can't often see the results of our own work. We stay humble, and we're forced to look back to the lives of others from the past for encouragement. We see who God is when we see how He worked through them. We learn about His character and His power. Knowing these things about the past helps us to trust Him now with our own lives.
Each year at the Desiring God Pastors Conference, John Piper tells the story of another great Christian from history. You can download them here. I've heard them all, and I wait eagerly for each new one. The stories are amazing. These "witnesses" were not superheroes. They suffered depression, fear, hopelessness, physical pain, loneliness, and persecution just as anyone might who is working to make a difference in this world--to bring glory to Christ and to help others know, love, and serve Him.
Listening to these riveting stories, you can't help but be encouraged by the fact that God does work in history and He uses simple, sinful people like you and me.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Continue on in faith!
After reading this paragraph,:
"They suffered depression, fear, hopelessness, physical pain, loneliness, and persecution just as anyone might who is working to make a difference in this world--to bring glory to Christ and to help others know, love, and serve Him."
I couldn't help be reminded of the great verses Heb. 11:34-38, especially the phrase "of whom the world was not worthy". So,
I cant think of a greater legacy as a servant of God than that. Having said that, I'm also reminded of a statement of Peter in 2 Pet. 1:16-19 where he talks about not having followed cunningly devised fables having been an eyewitness to God's voice from heaven. He then goes on to state that we have a "MORE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY".
In other words, even having been an eyewitness to the great signs and wonders surrounding Jesus' earthly ministry, Pete called the scriptures a more sure sign. So we have a great cloud of witnesses and the more sure sign [than being an eyewitness] of the scriptures that witness to us of God's great promises.
Brad
Posted by: Brad | February 22, 2007 at 07:35 PM
It is amazing how some of the really good devotional posts don't get comments. Hopefully that doesn't mean that no one is thinking about them.
Posted by: Jonathan | March 01, 2007 at 01:09 AM