Faith honoured

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.                             Heb. 11.13

My first realisation from this verse is of the enduring nature of faith. There may be times when I have faith for a specific, and that faith is realised when the specific occurs. In other instances faith may not be so readily fulfilled. If God has promised, then my faith holds that promise as good and true notwithstanding the time it might take to realisation. I do not give up. I simply believe.

And this is the experience of those identified by the writer in this chapter. What they had faith for, they did not see come to the fullness of fruition in their lifetime. Abraham certainly experienced the joy of Isaac’s life, but he didn’t see the countless descendants that were to come. The outcome was in train, increasingly, after his death.

These people also knew they were different. They are described as aliens and strangers on earth. I think of them as people of the promise. I likewise see believers today as people of the promise. We live in the promise of eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. This is not found in this earthly life, yet we can live in the here-and-now holding dear to the promise which is to come. In faith we live for this present life in the best way we can. The future glory touches the present living, and faith is honoured.

Lord God,

I rejoice in faith in what awaits me after this life. I ask also for faith to live now in the best way I possibly can.                   Amen.