All summer I’ve been preaching through Hebrews 11, the great Hall of Faith chapter and the wonders that we can experience when we put our trust in an all-sufficient God. In that passage of Scripture, we’ve soared to heights with the likes of Abel, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joseph, Joshua, Rahab and others. It’s been thrilling. It’s been encouraging. It’s been great! However, as I prepare to conclude the series on this Sunday, the last eight verses of the chapter are a bit, dare I say, disturbing? The author goes from chronicling & cataloging the triumphs of the saints of God with a list of tragedies by making the transition with the phrase, “And others.” In other words, he introduces a group of people whose faith did not help them to escape the most difficult and challenging circumstances that came their way.
From this we’re reminded that not everyone who truly has a genuine faith in the promises of God that’s sick will be healed. Not all believers in Christ will see walls of difficulty fall in their lives. Not all followers of Jesus will have their enemies vanquished. No, but many faithful followers of Christ will find themselves in this odd category known as, and others.
Should you find yourself in that category now or later in life please remember it may not be that your faith is faulty or weak. It certainly has nothing to do with the fact that God plays favorites and you’re not His. Or that His powers have weakened over time. It very well could be it’s not about you at all. The reality is simply this, the truest essence of faith is not so much getting from God what we want, as it is accepting from God what God gives. By faith, tell the Lord that you trust Him and what He’s doing no matter is happening in your life.
And as Jesus said concerning John the Baptist in Matthew 11:6, “Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me.”
Terrence M. Curtis
Terrence M. Curtis is the pastor-teacher and visionary of the Calvary Baptist Church of Jonesboro and Barnesville, GA, starting these churches respectively in 1997 and 2022. Having been called to preach at the tender age of 14, he has dedicated over 42 years of his life to preaching the Gospel. He received a Certificate of Theology from The Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC), a degree in Biblical Studies from Faith Bible Institute, a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Education and a Master of Divinity degree from Restoration Theological Seminary. He and his beautiful wife Shelia, to whom he’s been married thirty-eight years, have three children and twelve grandchildren.
