Let me be free.. so free…

I was reading Hebrews 11 and came across this:

“²⁴By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵ choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, ²⁶ esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.”

I was really encouraged by the life of Moses – he was guaranteed a great life, riches and status, but he chose to suffer affliction for the people of God: to lead the ungrateful Israelites out of Egypt – to where? the wilderness. he did not even enter the Promised Land. and again when I read the previous verses:

¹³ These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ¹⁴ For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. ¹⁵ And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶ But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

I was deeply moved by these heroes of faith – looking at their lives and looking at mine… these people died without receiving their promises. Abraham died without seeing his descendants as the dust of the earth and his land that God promised; Moses died without entering the Promised Land; Abel died after offering to God an excellent sacrifice. but one thing all of them had in common: they died believing fully in God for the eternal reward instead of what they can get on earth; they died believing fully in God without doubt even when what God promised never come true. this is the kind of FAITH i want to have, the kind of FAITH that puts 100% trust in HIM even when circumstances are bad, even when His promises never come true, even when all else fails.

Sometimes when bad things happen to us, many of us doubt: is God really there? does God really love me? well, one thing we know that God never promised to be fair, but He promises to be faithful when we are faithless, He promises to be our Refuge and Stronghold when we are weak, He promises to love us despite our imperfections. How much does God really love us? We know. He died on the Cross for us when He is blameless and innocent. He bears our sins, our transgressions, our imperfections. We can go to Heaven to be with God because He made a way for us. He suffered everything for us even before we know Him. If that’s not enough, this is how much He loves us: (quoted from yohandi )

^{Mark 36} Then someone ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink, saying, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to take Him down.”

the sponge full of sour wine was used by the people in olden times to clean their butts after doing business. they used that for Jesus to drink. and Jesus drank it. can you imagine drinking those dirty sponges that you use to.. (ok we don’t use sponge to clean our butts) wash your dishes? by now I believe everyone is “eeewww”-ing already.. yeah, Jesus did that. For US, for YOU and for ME. He loves us THAT much.

so for those of you out there, I believe there are promises of God that are yet to come true, and sometimes you wonder whether it will ever come true, looking at your life now sometimes you feel that it is impossible. but friends, will you be like Moses and Abraham who will die believing in God fully, never doubting the love of God?

let’s be heroes of faith. we live not for the things that are seen, but for the eternal reward. let’s press for eternity!