Whole Picture

I read Hebrews 10-11

Most of the time I appreciate the rough, raw language of The Message. Today I didn't. And I quote: "That's how it happened that from one man's dead and shriveled loins there are now people numbering into the millions" (my emphasis). Really, Eugene, that's just gross.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about today. Today it's about these verses: "Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours" (Hebrews 11:39-40).

This is a big thought, one I'm not even sure I totally understand. Chapter 11 of Hebrews is a "faith hall of fame" that runs through the big names of the Old Testament and why they are notable. But Paul doesn't stop with that, these verses seem to say that what we see there are only part of the story. We're the other part of the story. Everything that us, all the other believers in the world for all of time, does is a part of God's master plan, his bigger picture that we only see little glimpses of most of the time. That is a huge, amazing thought. These few characters from the OT make Paul's faith HOF but if God was writing his chapter 11 of Hebrews, it'd be a heck of a lot longer because every single one of us would be apart of it, as long as we have faith.

Our faith might seem small and insignificant, not even mustard seed sized, but God thinks it's a big deal because he considers us to be a big deal. And we're all significant, we're all integral to him.