every time i go back to hebrews, i find a new reason to call it my favorite book of the bible. this time, it has allowed me to get outside of my own head and simply hear truth. i can barely get through a chapter in many other books of the bible (new testament, especially) because nearly every sentence convicts my heart just as it was intended. this is really good for me, i assure you, but reading hebrews, i felt as if i was getting to know my jesus again.
hebrews is like a 13 chapter overview of the gospel (aka the entire bible), the great story throughout history that is always pointing to our salvation. i loved each and every bit of this book even though in my lack of discipline i usually only picked it up about once a week.
two weeks ago, i found myself sitting in this room reading hebrews 11.
i literally escaped from the world around me. i was in a perfect room, an hour away from iowa city with no cellphone or internet and two uninterrupted hours to spend with the Lord. God gave me a special treat that day, i left feeling incredibly refreshed, and also with a clear word from the Lord, which doesn't always happen when i read the bible, i'll admit.
the sentence i discovered was "ordinary people with an eternal perspective." i'm sure i'm not the first person to stumble upon that truth, or even form that sentence. but that day, it was like God had formed that in me, word by word.
"eternal perspective" was the first thing i was struck by. in hebrews 11:13 it says, "these all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth." (emphasis added)
this really spoke to me. "these," our fathers who have died in faith greeted the promises from afar-like an old friend. they lived for these promises, only to never receive them in their short lifetimes here on earth. but they greeted them from afar. i was really hung up on these few words. do i greet the promises from afar? would i recognize them up close let alone from afar? am i living for what i can see today, or what i know to be the greater truth?
i was baffled, convicted and in awe of the eternal perspective our fathers of faith had. chapter 11 goes on to list people in our great heritage of faith and i was overwhelmed by how ordinary everyone was. these were normal people that God did great things with! it says again in verse 39, "and all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised." could i do that? and more, do i consider myself ordinary enough to simply know and do God's will?
ordinary people.
eternal perspective.
today, i'm thankful for God's living and active word.
