How to Make God Happy
Today’s Bible reading* is the famous “Hall of Faith”, listing the great accomplishments of the Old Testament heavyweights of faith. The writer of the book cites numerous examples of people we should look up to who lived by faith.
He adds, “Now without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Hebrews 11:6 CSB) The opposite is also true: With faith it is possible to please Him. All of these spiritual giants lived by faith and thereby pleased God. So what does it mean to “live by faith”?
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7 CSB) The writer of Hebrews says at the beginning of this chapter that “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 CSB) Given that faith is the noun form of the verb, “Believe”, we can rephrase 11:1 to say that “Believing is seeing” We tend to believe what we can see. But walking by faith — living by faith — is a life of trusting God, believing Him despite how things look.
Application
Three years ago, we were living in the midst of the Covid-19 Coronavirus scare. Spring Break was been extended by two weeks across the area. Students returned early from study abroad programs. Many churches followed recommendations from Emergency Management officials and closed their doors for a time. Those that were able to livestreamed their worship services. In fact, our church began to live stream our Morning Worship Services on Facebook Live three years ago today.
Grocery store shelves were running low. Who knows why, but customers hoarded all of the toilet paper. Hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes were nowhere to be found. People bought up bottled water. When I went to the store, I felt like I was buying in preparation for a paralyzing storm.
Despite how things looked, God was still on His throne. Despite how things looked, this was not the end of time. As a society, we survived. And Believers had a unique opportunity to speak the truth in love. We also had the opportunity to express our belief in God and our absolute trust in Him. Unfortunately, many Believers panicked at least as much as unbelievers.
In times like we began to experience three years ago, I noted that we should exercise our faith. We should walk by faith and not by sight. We should express our unwavering trust in God. We should see through the eyes of faith that God will take us through this and all other challenges we face.
Our living by faith will make God happy.
* Today we are reading Hebrews 11.
This devotional was originally published on March 15, 2020.
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