Day 355: Heb 11:1 - 13:25

It would seem almost preposterous to read over Hebrews chapter 11 and not say anything about faith. The one phrase that stuck out to me more than any other is in verse 6 when the writer says, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God . . ." I don't think we put enough emphasis on that verse. It's easy to take that verse and argue that it's just referring to having faith that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave for our sins, but when taken in context with the rest of the chapter, we see that the writer wasn't simply referring to believing in something, he was describing people who lived their entire lives completely sold out on believing that God would provide for them. I'm not saying that people who live a simple, clean, quiet Christian life won't make it to heaven, but what I am saying is that if we aren't living our lives to the limit; if we're not taking active, straightforward steps into the unknown simply because God told us to and we have complete trust and faith in Him, then there's no way we could believe that we are truly pleasing God. God can only truly be pleased with us when we are willing to put all of our faith, all of our trust, all of our confidence, all of our hope, and everything we have into doing what He has called us to. God doesn't want most of us. He wants all of us.

- God, I want to live a life completely sold out and passionate about You. I don't want to go throughout my life believing in something but never acting on it. When I die and go to heaven, I want to know that I did everything in my human ability to please You by living a life defined by faith. -