Hebrews 11 is a chapter of the heroes of the faith: Those who chose to put God first in their lives. They include Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, David, Samuel, the prophets and others. What set them apart? A singular vision to follow God, in faith, no matter what the cost. 

Here is how their lives are summed up.  “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated — the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:32-40).

The only thing you can say about these people is that they had a singular focus of faith and followership. Then, the writer pivots from them to us and says this to us in Hebrews 12:1-3. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

How do we live in light of these past heroes of the faith? With one singular focus and vision for our lives. Verse 2. “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” This is the key to a life of discipleship. A life where our eyes are fixed on Jesus. And as we live life with eyes fixed on Him, our hearts are transfixed by the vision of His life and our lives are transformed as we follow Him closely. 

He is both the pioneer and the perfector of faith. He went before us in the incarnation and showed us what it means to follow the Father. He showed us how to love others, how to live in faith, how to refashion our priorities so that our lives reflect His. And, he is the perfecter of our faith, helping us to look more and more like Him. 

Those who grow in their faith and whose lives reflect the heart of Jesus have made it their practice to keep their eyes fixed on Jesus above all else. To learn from His life in the Gospels and to allow Him to mold our lives to reflect His. 

There are many focuses we can have in life, but there is one singular focus that will allow us to join the heroes of Hebrews 11. It is an ongoing focus on Jesus above all else.

Father, I want to join the crowd of those who followed you well. Help me today to fix my eyes on you, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. May I be transfixed by the vision of your life each and every day. Amen.

What does it mean to follow Jesus? Many in our culture believe that Jesus is the key to success, abundance and all the things we wish for. 

One of my favorite authors, Brennan Manning, puts it this way in His book, The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus. “The self centeredness of our culture spawns a self-centered religion. The most common question in evangelism today is ‘What can Jesus do for me?’ Potential converts are told that Jesus can make them happier, better adjusted and more prosperous. Jesus quickly becomes the supreme product, attractively packaged and aggressively sold to a consuming public. Everywhere you turn there are billboards, buttons and bumper stickers - ‘Honk if you love Jesus.’ He’s being advertised in a competitive market with every ingenious Madison Avenue sales technique. Even more than Coca-Cola, Jesus is ‘the real thing.’”

But is that what Jesus teaches us in the Gospels? In Luke 9:23, Jesus said to those following him, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” He also said in John 12:24, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”

Following Jesus is not about our success and glory but His. It is a radical denial of ourselves in order to make Him first in our lives and priorities. It is literally dying to self so that we can live for Him. It is the greatest adventure we will ever live but it is not about us, but Him. It is a life of understanding how Jesus lived and the life He calls us to and then rearranging our lives to conform to His. 

Think about Christ’s life. It was anything but comfortable and successful from the world’s perspective. It ended on a cross but thank God for the resurrection. He died so that we could live. We die to ourselves so that He can live in us. Our lives are no longer about us but about Him which is why we every day take up His cross and follow Him. We follow His example, His agenda, His purposes, His priorities and His purposes. This impacts literally every aspect of our lives.

Why the symbol of a cross? Because it symbolizes our death to self and our new life in Him. The cross is a symbol of death, like the kernel of wheat that must die in order to grow again. This takes radical trust on our part to be willing to follow in those areas that we find hard and difficult. 

Where are you struggling to die to self and follow Jesus more closely? Today, take up your cross in that area and simply follow. Die to yourself so you can live more fully in Him.

Lord Jesus , I thank you for the cross you carried and died on so that I could live and experience fullness of life as I follow you. Give me the courage to daily take up your cross and follow you more closely. Amen.

Few chapters of the Bible are more explicit about the amazing blessings we have in Jesus than Ephesians one and two. If you have not read them recently, you should. While there are many crazy amazing statements in these two chapters, one stands out and it has huge implications for you and I. It is Ephesians 2:4 where we read, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved.”

Now there are many things that God is rich in, but this is the only time in Scripture where he tells us what one of those things is. He says that He is rich, enormously rich in mercy. He is a billionaire when it comes to mercy and he loves to give it away. In fact, notice that this mercy is not given to us because we deserve it, but is a result of His great love for us. As Micah 7:18 says, God delights in showing mercy. Mercy is His specialty. 

As I write this, the Powerball total is $241 million. How many people would love to win that lotto! In this case, one or a handful of people might win all or a piece of it. With Jesus, the prize is infinitely greater and anyone who desires that prize can claim it because He delights in showing mercy. It is His specialty and he is rich in it. 

And we need it. Paul writes in the passage above that we were dead in transgressions. Dead! We had a sin problem that we could not fix. We were not sick, we didn’t lack something, and we didn’t have flaws. We were Dead! And Jesus came to bring dead people to life - because of His mercy. We didn’t deserve it, could not earn it and had no way to deal with it. Dead people cannot do surgery on themselves. 

And why would Jesus come to bring dead people like us to life? Because of His great love for us. His infinite, unfathomable, unexplainable love. I have often had people say to me about someone they were totally irritated or angry with, “I’m done with them.” “I’m done!” 

Now consider God. He created us in His image, created a perfect world for us to live in, and not only did we rebel and go our own way, but when God became a creature in the incarnation many rejected Him as well and crucified Him. Yet God, unlike us, never said “I’m done.” Rather he actually came to die for our sin, yank our dead bodies to life and pour out His mercy on us. He is never done with us. He loves us with an infinite and unexplainable love and He is rich, exceedingly rich in mercy.

We never cease to need God’s mercy. Everyday we need mercy for sins of comission and sins of omission. But as Dane Ortlund writes, “If God sent his own Son to walk through the valley of condemnation, rejection and hell, you can trust him as you walk through your own valleys on your way to heaven.” Between His love and His mercy we have become recipients of His amazing grace.

Father, thank you for the infinite mercy you have and offer freely to us not only when you brought life to us but each day since. Remind me daily of your rich reservoir of mercy for my life. Amen. 

My wife, Cleo, grew up in a remote province of the Philippines. For many years the Philippines was a possession of Spain and her town was one of those deeply influenced by the Spanish. In fact, the town is built like a Spanish town with a Catholic Church from the 1800’s in the town Square. From an early age Cleo was taken to church by her grandmother. She remembers her grandma’s large Spanish-style skirts, the sweets that she would bring in her deep pockets and her grandma’s love for Jesus. 

Her grandma would tell her that she prayed for her daily. Her grandma, her church, and early faith were all part of the same picture. She gave to Cleo a great love for Jesus and an abiding love for the church. Her grandmother was a humble woman of humble means who passed on to Cleo a love for Jesus that Cleo has, in subsequent years, passed on and continues to pass on to others. 

In Paul’s second letter to Timothy he tells Timothy how he remembers him in his prayers. And then he writes, “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5). Later in the same letter he reminds Timothy of how, from infancy, he has known the Holy Scriptures, because of his grandmother and mother. Nothing else is known of Lois and Eunice but we do know that they passed their faith and love for Jesus down to Timothy who passed it on to others. 

We should never underestimate the influence that we can have with family, friends and acquaintances as we simply live lives of faith, love Jesus, and share that faith and love with others. This is evangelism 101. It does not take special training and it isn’t a program. It is simply influencing others through our lives and especially our prayers.

Cleo’s grandmother probably never travelled more than 100 miles beyond her village. She would be amazed if she knew that this little girl that she prayed for and took with her to church, has lived in Manilla, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and now the United States. And in each of these places, Cleo has pointed people to Jesus through her infectious personality, deep faith, loving compassion, and prayer for those around her. This is her grandmother’s legacy. Her grandmother’s simple faith and prayer has, at this point, touched the world long after her death. Her life mattered and her faith has now touched many.

Every day we have the opportunity to influence others for Jesus. Never underestimate your influence with those around you. The legacy of our faith, our prayer, and our love for Jesus can have ripples long after we are gone. Let your life ripple for Him in the lives of those around you. 

Father. Thank you for those who influenced me in my faith. May their influence multiply itself through me and through those who I influence for you. Give me the courage and discipline to influence others for you. Amen. 

How often when things don’t go our way, or when our prayers are not answered as we would wish, we think of Isaiah 55:8 where it says ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither  are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.” In other words, we cannot understand God or His ways and the reason He does not respond as we would is that, in the words of Isaiah, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

The conclusion is that we just cannot understand God. But what if this conclusion is not what God is saying here? What if He is not talking about the fact that we cannot understand Him but that He doesn’t act as we would expect Him to. Or to put it another way, He doesn’t act like we act in an important way.

Like all of Scripture, these verses need to be read in context. In verses 6-8, God says to us, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.”

In other words, if you have made a mess of your life, if you are in trouble, if you need God’s mercy and love and forgiveness, “turn to me and I will have mercy on you. In fact, I will freely pardon you.” And then He says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways”, declares the Lord. 

Why would He say this? Because He isn’t like us. If someone  has offended us or hurt us or messed up their lives we have long memories. We expect them to get their act together, make up for their offense, pull up their bootstraps. We can be unforgiving, lack compassion and mercy, hold on to grudges and offenses and withhold our love, forgiveness or kindness.

God is saying, I am not like you. I don’t think like you think. My ways are higher than your ways. My heart is bigger than your heart. In fact, no matter how badly you have messed up, how often you have messed up or no matter what the mess you have created, come to me and I will have mercy on you and will freely pardon. While we would think He would withhold His love and mercy, because that is our way, He says, no I give it freely, every time. Come to me.

In fact, in verse 12, we read this: “You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

Dane Ortlund writes this: “He isn’t like you. Even the most intense of human love is but the faintest echo of heaven’s cascading abundance. His heartfelt thoughts for you outstrip what you can conceive. He intends to restore you into the radiant resplendence for which you were created. And that is dependent not on you keeping yourself clean but on you taking your mess to him. He doesn’t limit himself to working with the unspoiled parts of us that remain after a lifetime of sinning. His power runs so deep that he is able to redeem the very worst parts of our past into the most radiant parts of our future. But we need to take those dark miseries to him.” 

Father, I thank you that you are not like us but have an infinite heart of compassion and mercy toward us. Help me develop that same compassion and mercy toward others. Amen. 

Moses has been described in Scripture as the most humble person who ever lived. But that doesn’t mean that he was shy or lacked courage. In fact, at a critical juncture in the Exodus when the people had disobeyed God by making a rival god in the form of the golden calf, Moses, who was a reluctant leader said to God, “If you don’t go with us from here, I cannot lead the people.” God said to Moses, “My presence will go with you.” Unsatisfied, and wanting to know this God who was leading them better, Moses said, “Please. Let me see your glory.”

Now when you think of God's glory what comes to your mind? His holiness? His righteousness? His immense and unlimited power? His transcendence?  His immutability? Whatever it is that you think when you consider His glory, His response to Moses is stunning.

Here is what He tells Moses. "God said, 'I will make my goodness pass right in front of you: I'll call out the name, God, right before you. I'll treat well whomever I want to treat well and I'll be kind to whomever I want to be kind.' God continued, 'But you may not see my face. No one can see me and live.' God said, 'Look, here is a place right beside me. Put yourself on this rock. When my Glory passes by, I'll put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I've passed by. Then I'll take my hand away and you'll see my back. But you won't see my face.'" (Exodus 33:18-23).

How does God define His glory to Moses? "I will make my goodness pass right in front of you: I'll call out the name, God, right before you. "I'll treat whomever I want to treat well and I'll be kind to whomever I want to be kind." God defines His glory with two words: Goodness and Kindness!

His glory is to be good to you and His glory is to be kind to you. This is His character. It is why He said "I will call out the name, God, right before you." God is good and He is kind and that in large part defines His glory. It is how He defined His glory to Moses.

In Matthew 11:29, Jesus defines His heart as gentle and lowly. Here in Exodus 33, the first words that God uses in Scripture to define His glory are goodness and kindness toward us. It is His disposition toward us, even when He disciplines us. He is all about goodness and kindness toward us.

And to prove His goodness and kindness along with His gentle and lowly spirit, this God who could not be seen by men and live, came in the incarnation to live among us so we could see Him and understand His amazing heart. It is in the Gospels that we most clearly see the heart of God toward us.

There are many, many things that describe God and His glory. But two of the most profound descriptors are His goodness and kindness toward us. It is who God is toward us. It is how God regards us. It is where we daily find goodness and kindness in a world that is often neither good nor kind. It is His description of His glory.

And why would this not be when He chose to die for the sins of His creatures who had rebelled against Him, including us - and offer us eternal life and full forgiveness if we believe in Him. That is astonishing glory. It is unexpected grace and mercy of the most amazing kind. In fact, it is amazing grace, and that amazing grace is His glory.

Father, thank you that your glory includes your goodness and kindness toward me. Remind me today and often that you love me fully, care about me completely and love to shower me with your goodness and kindness. Amen.

It is amazing how quickly and easily we fall into the trap of living without a great deal of thought as to what we are after, the choices we are making, or the significance of what we say yes and no to. Without a vibrant vision for our lives we end up living accidentally rather than intentionally - wasting the promise of our days.

God gave us gifts and purpose. Paul puts it this way in Ephesians 2:10. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. (The Message translation).

He created us for something special and unique. I often talk to individuals who are searching for something that they can contribute to others, to society or to God's work. What they sense they are missing, without knowing it, is the purpose that God created them for. When we don't live out that purpose, we sense that something is missing and we often try to fill that missing piece without realizing that what is missing is our living out God's vision for our lives.

We often make the mistake of thinking that we cannot make much of a difference in our world. The truth is that in God's economy, ordinary people like you and I make a profound difference for Jesus in the small ways that we answer His call to contribute to those around us, using the ways that He has uniquely gifted us. 

How do we know how He has gifted us? Here are some ways to figure that out:

• What am I most passionate about?

The answers to these questions give us clues as to how He wants us to contribute to His Kingdom work. Our job is to find ways in which we can do that.

We need a vision for our lives that transcends just living. A vision that gives our lives eternal significance as we join Him in His work in our world. A world that desperately needs healing, hope, help, peace, through the involvement of His people. 

The most happy and satisfied people I know are those who choose to live at the intersection of their God given gifting and God's call on their lives. 

Do you have a vision for your life that includes those places where you can contribute to God's work in our world? 

Prayer

Father: Give me a vision for my life that transcends this life and contributes to what you are doing in our world. Help me to live at the intersection of my God-given gifting and your call on my life. Amen.

All of us are on a quest for a life of meaning, purpose and satisfaction. But let's be honest. That quest can be frustrating and even seem pointless at times. Or elusive! We chase after the holy grail of satisfaction but often come up far emptier than we want.

Jesus had a lot to say about life and a satisfying life. In Eugene Peterson’s translation, The Message, Jesus talks to the crowd about real bread. The Bread of God that gives life to the world. This conversation came on the heels of Jesus feeding thousands of people with five loaves of bread and two fish. 

That got the attention of the people, so as the crowds followed Jesus wanting to see more of that kind of miraculous fast food event, He said to the crowd, “Don’t waste your energy striving for perishable food like that. Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last.” (John 6:27). 

When they say, “Master, give us this bread, now and forever!” Jesus gives us this clue to the key to life satisfaction. “The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever.” (John 6:35). There we have the secret. As we align our life with His, we experience life in a new and fuller way that lasts and makes a real difference.

This goes beyond simply inviting Christ into our lives, which is the first step of finding eternal life. A life of satisfaction and meaning comes progressively as we choose to align all parts of our life with His. For instance, why are people who are generous with God and others happier than those who are stingy with their resources? Very simply, they have chosen to align their lives with His and in practicing generosity they experience more of His blessing than those who keep it all for themselves.

Every choice we make to align our lives with His teaching and example leads to a fuller life and one that is more satisfying. Ironically, it is when we align with Him and give up our own control and life satisfaction schemes that we find the good that nourishes our lives the most. As Jesus says in John 27, “He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last.”

The life long pursuit of satisfaction and meaning can be found in one place: The life long pursuit of aligning our lives with His teaching and His example. It is that simple, but simplicity is sometimes our nemesis. Here is my question today. Where does He want you to align your life more fully with His? Figure out how you can do that and you will experience greater meaning in your life. Stay in alignment with Him and you will experience life and life abundant.

Prayer

Father, I’ve looked at all kinds of places for satisfaction and meaning in life. Now help me find it in you and in aligning my life with yours. I want to experience your life in my life and your meaning in my story. Amen.

Think for a moment about your life today and then what Jesus wants to bring to you. You see, Jesus has a vision for your life and it is far greater than any vision we could have for ourselves. Here is that vision:

• If you need some good news, He wants to deliver it

This vision for your life is found in Isaiah 61:1-3. “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”

This is God’s vision for your life! This is what He wants for us and what He offers to us. 

I had a conversation with a friend just recently where he shared how a few years ago he realized what a mess his life was and how he went on a quest to really understand Jesus and the life that He offers. This was someone who grew up in the church and knew Scripture but was not realizing God’s vision for his life. His life, like Isaiah says in verse 3, was a pile of ashes. Yet, now with God’s help, he is seeing God build something new and beautiful in his life. That is God’s vision for us. A crown of beauty instead of a pile of ashes. 

The result is this great word picture where Isaiah says, we will be called “oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.” Instead of brokenhearted, darkness, mourning and ashes, our lives will look like a magnificent oak of righteousness, planted by God himself in order to display the splendor of what He can and does do in broken and needy people. 

The crazy thing is that God’s vision for our lives is better than any vision we could have. He will take your pile of ashes, whatever it is, and craft something beautiful from it. From ashes to an oak of righteousness that brings Him glory. I will take that vision any day. All it takes is my willingness to invite Him to transform my life.

Prayer

Father, I want to be an Oak of Righteousness, planted by you for the display of your splendor. Turn my ashes into a thing of beauty. Amen.

All of us are on a path in life. This is certainly the case in our walk with God. That walk starts with some small steps toward Him which leads us to take additional steps toward Him. Each step we take gives us the courage and strength and faith to take another further step in our followership of Him.

Growth in our followership of Jesus does not all happen at once. In fact, there is a profound verse in Proverbs that describes this process. The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day (Proverbs 4:16).

I love the first gleam of dawn. You know that a new day is arriving. In the darkness there is a glimmer of light after the darkness of night. Think about the first time you chose to move closer to God. What was the first step you took? What was it that prompted you to take that first step? How did it feel to let go of your own life and choose His life over yours? What stirred in your heart as you took what was a real step of faith?

In taking that step of faith you started down a path of followership, but where we started is not where God wants us to end. He wants us to walk down a path that shines ever brighter till the full light of day. That is a beautiful description of growth in our spiritual lives. It starts small, like the first glimmer of dawn and keeps getting brighter till it is like the full light of day. That is God’s vision for our lives.

What is the key to moving from that first glimmer to the full light of day spiritually? Simply put, it is that we follow Him more closely each day. That we delight in His presence more regularly, take greater risks of faith and obedience and are even willing to change our lives to bring them into conformity with His.

None of this happens overnight. And that is the point of the writer of this Proverb. In fact, there is something deeply beautiful about that first step of faith and obedience we take toward Jesus, no matter how small. It is like the first glimmer of light in the morning that promises a new day. That first step, no matter how small, is something to celebrate.

But even more beautiful is each step we take after that first step because our lives move from a glimmer of God to the full light of God as we choose a long obedience in the same direction. Those who keep pressing forward and go deeper in their love and followership of Jesus shine like the full brightness of the day.

That is what I want and I suspect that is what you want. Let's go from the glimmer to the full light - a little more each day as we press forward in loving Jesus and allowing Him to transform our lives. It is a beautiful path. Not always easy but beautiful.

Prayer

Father: Thank you for this beautiful picture of my own life. Help me to follow you closer each day so that I move from that first step of followership to a deeper and deeper followership. From the first glimmer of a new day to the full light of day. Amen.