Through faith…

For the past few years I’ve found that Hebrews 11:1 has hands down been my favorite verse.  The verse saying that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don’t see.  It always spoke to me in so many ways.  I live by faith and the thought that everything that happens is happening for a greater cause.  Like Paul had wrote.  We should praise God even in the storm.

For the past years I’ve always questioned whether or not when I was first baptized if it was because I wanted a relationship with God or if I was more just pushed into it.  See I was about 8 and know now that I had very little understanding of what being a Christian meant.  This last Sunday as I sat in church that thought came back.  They talked about baptism towards the end of the sermon and the thought came to me that I should renew my baptism because now I know what being a Christian means more than I ever had and I desperately want to be closer to God.

That day I had a long talk with a friend of mine and interestingly enough it seems we both were having the same thoughts.  It was cool to have a conversation like that with someone my age for a change.  I had become so used to only having these types of conversations with older people that it really was a great change.

That day I went home and read Hebrews 11:1.  I find myself sometimes reading that when I’m unsure about things and every once and a while it will help me in my deep thought.  I ended up reading all of chapter 11 and was completely changed.  I had never gone on to read the rest of the chapter before and I kick myself for having not.  If you don’t know what it goes on to say it talks about people like Noah and Abraham and people who God had huge plans for and even when they didn’t really want to do what God had commanded they did it anyways because they had faith that things would work out and they did.  It talks about how Abraham when commanded to offer up his son he did so and this proved to God that Abraham would be faithful to him and Abraham’s son lived.  It is through faith that these great people fullfilled God’s commandment.  What I realized was that it is through faith that God’s plans are fullfilled.

Last Sunday we sang a song called “Salvation is Here”.  It is an amazing song and fit so well into my life as if it were another jig saw piece in my little puzzle.  The more and more I thought about things this week and the more and more I thought about Hebrews 11 I’ve began to realize just how badly I want this.

I was 8 years old when I stood in front of my church and said that I believe that Jesus Christ was born a virgin birth, died on a cross, rose on the third day and ascended into Heaven.  In the past few years I’ve learned that being a Christian is sooo much more than going to Church, reading the Bible, believing in God, believing that Jesus did die and rise on the third day.  Being a Christian is more than just singing the songs, and being a good person.  Being a Christian is all of those things but there is something bigger than that.  I’ve learned that being a Christian is when you desperately want a relationship with God, when you put God above everything else in life, when you can take away all the noise of life and focus on God and God alone, when you can face some of the hardest of life’s situations and honestly say just as the song “Salvation is here” says:  “And I don’t care what the world throws at me now.  I’m gonna be alright.”  It’s when you know that no matter what happens everything is going to be alright.

After all the thoughts that have went through my mind in these past days.  I know more than I ever have before that I truly want to have a relationship with God.  I want to be able to have the utmost faith in God so that I know for certain that everything is going to be fine.  I don’t know that I’ve ever truly had that, I don’t even know if I understood what was going on all those years ago at the age of 8 as I repeated the words of my pastor.  What I do know however is that I feel I know what becoming a Christian means.  I know that many hard times will come and I believe that I am ready to face them.

The church I go to just started a new series called “Swim”.  In which they’ll discuss how it sometimes seems impossible to get closer to God and how we do get closer to God.  I believe things happen for a reason and I honestly believe that the sermons that will be delivered over the next few weeks will be things that I need to hear.

I encourage all of you to read Hebrews 11:1.  If you’ve already read it then read it again.  Think about it.  Think about where you stand in your life, in your faith and most importantly in your walk with Christ.  Think about where you want to be in all of these things.  And think about what you need to do to get there.  I thought about these exact things and now I am pumped, exicted, and anxious to renew my walk with Christ.

I also encourage you to listen and think about the lyrics to “Salvation is Here”.  They are truly amazing.