Faith is the assurance (substance) of things hoped for, the conviction (evidence) of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
When you think of the great men and women of faith in the Bible, are you like me and forget that they weren’t superheroes? It’s easy from our perspective—sitting on this side of the page—to lose sight of the fact that they were just like you and me; human.
The hall of faith
If you’ve spent any time reading the bible, I’m sure you’ve read through Hebrews chapter 11 at least once—”the heroes of faith chapter.” Within this chapter you’ll find a group of people who were shining examples of walking by faith in God.
You may be inclined to think that those listed in this chapter were perfect, faith-filled saints all of their lives. When in reality, the Bible weaves a story of extremely flawed people and then leaves all of the ugly parts so we would see just how human they actually were. Hebrews chapter 11 isn’t just a record of faith-filled people, it is truly a showcase of God’s wildly extravagant grace because he loved and listed a whole lot of misfits. God chose people that showed faith in small, defining moments within their life—not because of their whole life.
Overcome fear with one moment of faith.
Overcome fear with one moment of faith
Spending time looking through the narratives of the great faith heroes you’ll see that many only had a single moment of outstanding faith (that we know of.) They are immortalized in the greatest book ever written for one moment in their life.
One. Single. Moment.
Moses’ parents, for example, are listed in the chapter of faith for saving their son from death. Yes, we can look now and see that any parent would do this for their child. But by this small act of hiding him among the reeds on the river bank, the future for the Israelite people was forever changed. Moses’s parents didn’t know this, they just knew they loved him. And so they chose in one moment to have faith over fear.
Take Rahab—remember her? She was called a “harlot” in Joshua chapter 2 and lived in the city of Jericho. Her story begins with one moment of faith. She chose to help the people of God rather than huddle in a corner out of fear because of faith. Her name is there for all to see, pressed in ink for eternity for that one choice.
So, what is our takeaway?
We can learn from this list of people and remember that every time we feel fear it is a chance to let faith win.
The “faith heroes” have become my reminder when I’m terrified to move forward that all I have to do is look up and have courage in this one tiny moment that I’m standing in. Not tomorrow, not five years down the road, just right now. This is how real faith is built, one moment at a time, right where the rubber meets the road.
Remember today that fear can actually work to drive us to greater faith. (see Gideon’s story in Judges 6.) If ever I needed to see someone that felt tremendous fear but kept creeping forward in spite of it—Gideon is it.
Rather than beating ourselves up for the fear we feel; use it. Move toward it. Feel it just as God intended and then allow it to lead you to greater faith in Him.
Don’t try to ignore it, run from it or just get rid of it because I can guarantee from experience that if you do this it’ll boomerang back.
Instead, trade it with Jesus—fear for faith—and walk forward to that thing that is frightening you. Remember friend, life-changing moments often begin out of one moment of courage in the face of fear.
As always, friend, thank you for stopping by,
