All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. Hebrews 11:39-40 (NLT)
We reach the end of Hebrews 11 and find out that all the people who have gone before us didn’t receive all that God had promised. The result of their faith was not complete. And if I am reading this correctly, it’s because we weren’t there yet. He wants us to realize perfection as well.
This makes a lot of sense. As the people that went before us walked the paths God gave them, they were in the thick of it. They were fighting battles, dealing with sickness, stuck in Lion’s dens, beaten and jailed. They faced all sorts of trials. When they were facing those trials, I am pretty sure they didn’t stop and say “Well, I will face this with faith so Elaine can read about it later and be encouraged.”
They faced it because they believed in God and what he would do. The awesome thing about that though is the result of that faith. When they walked in faith, their example radiated to all those near them and to us many lifetimes later.
Our acts of faith are never meant just for us. They are meant to glorify God which then impacts all those around us. Being faithful, living your faith each day has a deeper purpose than just getting us through the messy stuff. It is to be shared so that we can share Jesus (even if just in our response to life’s problems) with other people.