Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
This verse was brought to my attention today and I wanted to do a little thinking on it. This section of Hebrews is all about the faith of the patriarchs and what came of their faith. Most of them received fulfillment of a promise from God. As I read the last portion of this verse, "that he rewards" I wonder what those rewards are. I look at the those patriarchs and see that their rewards were things like, promised land, a son, life free from death (in Enoch's case), righteousness and, in Moses case, disgrace. Why then do we believe that God is going to reward us with shiny blessings of happiness and money. Where do we get this idea from? So what are the rewards God gives when we have faith? If we have faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross, then we are rewarded with eternal life in heaven. If we have faith in the Spirit to work in us, then we are rewarded as we become the creation God intended. If we have faith in the power of the resurrection, then we our reward is getting to live in resurrection here on earth. When we have faith, we are given so much more than the earthly "blessings" we think are rewards. Our reward is living a life with Jesus in, around, and through us. There is nothing on earth that can compare to living in resurrection through Jesus' resurrection.
This verse was brought to my attention today and I wanted to do a little thinking on it. This section of Hebrews is all about the faith of the patriarchs and what came of their faith. Most of them received fulfillment of a promise from God. As I read the last portion of this verse, "that he rewards" I wonder what those rewards are. I look at the those patriarchs and see that their rewards were things like, promised land, a son, life free from death (in Enoch's case), righteousness and, in Moses case, disgrace. Why then do we believe that God is going to reward us with shiny blessings of happiness and money. Where do we get this idea from? So what are the rewards God gives when we have faith? If we have faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross, then we are rewarded with eternal life in heaven. If we have faith in the Spirit to work in us, then we are rewarded as we become the creation God intended. If we have faith in the power of the resurrection, then we our reward is getting to live in resurrection here on earth. When we have faith, we are given so much more than the earthly "blessings" we think are rewards. Our reward is living a life with Jesus in, around, and through us. There is nothing on earth that can compare to living in resurrection through Jesus' resurrection.
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