Hebrews 11 :: Faith cookies ::

10/15/11

Hebrews 11
Psalm 104

What a gift of a chapter after paul ended chapter ten the way he did, encouraging us to ‘remember’ the early days after receiving the light... an encouragement to be fresh in the spirit.

Well today, chapter 11 hammers home the importance of faith being a part of this mixture of goodness. I like to imagine a big bowl of cookies, cookies we’re going to give to our God, our daddy someday... Some ingredients are more out of reach than others. He is tall enough to, so if you need something, you just ask him to get it for you... or he might send a messenger of his :) Among ingredients such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness & self-control (gal5)... faith stands out throughout scripture as sort of the baking powder equivelant. The one that sits a little higher up, just out of reach sometimes, and... “dammit why can’t i just have faith!” .. i’ve been there...

... ask the good man to send his messenger “the spirit.. wind”, to get it for you...

Just a pinch, and all the other ingredients take shape...

11:1 “now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.”

By faith we believe in the gift of the holy spirit...

Scripture uses the wind to help us understand the spirit... which is why I now love a good windy day, or even just a short breeze.. it’s a reminder to me of the presence of the spirit, that which I can feel, hear, and be sure of it’s presence without seeing it.. although through its movement of things (leaves, smoke, wheat field, ocean), you see it’s power, it’s grace. Through it and it’s movement, we’re made certain of what we cannot see, and given hope because of it’s presence :)

Paul, after laying out what faith is, and after encouaging us to ‘remember’, spends the remainder of the chapter (the next 37 verses!), accessing his memory bank of places in scripture where people had great faith, great ingredients, and their cookies grew to a size beyond our ability to comprehend.. because of faith.

“without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him muuuuust believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (v6)

Those next 37 verses, i would encourage you to take the time to read them.. But for a snapshot effect, paul says the words “By faith...” (by my count) 22 times... those words followed by a character pulled from his incredible knowledge of scripture who during their stay on earth displayed unusual amounts of faith... He mentions over 15 examples of people who put a bit more than a pinch in the batch.. each one a beautiful story, written on the tablet of his heart, with him always... scripture was of such value to him, you can feel it in his words here.

Remember chapter 10, paul encouraging us to remember our early days in “the light”... well here paul is offering a huge gift to us, the gift of remembering not only our stories of closeness with god, but those too of the GREAT followers of God... stacking on layers of encouragement. With each story, another pinch of baking powder to the believers heart... faith is powerful, that is what paul is trying to impress upon the reader.

It’s beautiful, paul tells us what these ‘greats’ had in common was that...

“they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had topportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country -- a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (v13)

If you read my blog a few days back about my friend who had a near death experience, you can maybe understand why this verse is so precious to me. I can understand it, because I can believe it... that 'other place', is real :)

These people paul use in example of great amounts of faith, it says here in Hebrews that they were able to have this faith because they had such a beautiful “hope of what was to come” and were extremely “certain of what they could not see”... maybe they’d gotten a glimpse of that place... heaven.

I love how paul shares that Abraham (v8-10) could wander aimlessly in the promised land (his inheritance) living in tents because he knew his God, he knew where he would spend eternity, and “he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

Me too brother :)

Thanks for the reminders Paul... thank you for these reminders... there for us in scripture in times where maybe we are hard pressed to remember our own first bites of His good fruit.

So let us join the greats in receiving God’s messenger - the spirit - to help us reach that jar of faith. And by it... “by faith"...

... we watch as things begin to take shape in unexplanable ways... the spirit moves... the wind blows... and we see, feel, and are confident in it’s movement.

Today, I am especially thankful for wind, and baking powder.. reminders of the invisible, yet powerful presence of the spirit, and the importance of faith being in the mixture, as well as the power of just a little bit to raise a whole batch. :) it is us who regulate our faith intake. just a pinch? maybe more? see what happens...

So, I’m gonna go make cookies now.. hahaha.. but seriously people.. chocolate chip?

Psalm 104 is one that when i’ve thrown a pinch of faith in the mix before reading it, it has brought me to such a beautiful place of worship... try it :)


Until next time... :)