Title: Suggestions for a Life of Faith
Contents
Suggestions for a life of faith
Hebrews 11:13-16
Three things every Christian in the world must do
refuse
Egypt, where Moses lived, was a country that represented the world at the time, and in that world, Moses was a person who had a firm position as the son of Pharaoh's princess. Historically, he was said to have had a lot of potential to become the next pharaoh. Maybe he was in a position to sit still and become king. However, Moses receives Jewish education from his mother disguised as a nanny. They feel pity for the people of Israel and have hope for the land and faith in God. And when Moses reached his age, he boldly stepped out of the position of the princess's son by himself. Today's text expresses such a state of Moses by using the word “rejection”. Moses refused a place of honor, a place of success.
like it more
Moses did not stop at refusing to be the son of Pharaoh's princess. It is not enough just to refuse to be the son of a princess, “better to suffer with the people than to enjoy the momentary pleasures of iniquity” (verse 25). He preferred to suffer with his people, the people of God. Even though the road was a road of suffering and he did not know the future of that road, Moses volunteered to follow the path of suffering. If you prefer the fellowship of saints to meeting friends, you will not leave the church. If you love the Word more than games or alcohol, you will read the Bible at that time. If you like worshiping more than going out to play, you value the life of worshiping God. From the point of view of unbelievers or non-believers, today's saints can be seen as living a dull life without any fun. But today, people of our faith have something better and more interesting than what the world likes and the world enjoys. “It is better for me to be a gatekeeper in the temple of my God than one day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere, that I live in the tents of the wicked” (Psalm 84:10).
looking up
Rather than pursuing the pleasures of this earth, they looked to the Lord. What Moses looked at was not the world, but the rewarder God. Not looking at the treasures of this world, but looking at the treasures that God has given us. “The humiliation received for the sake of Christ was regarded as greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt, for they looked to the reward” (verse 26). What is humiliation? It is being insulted by others. Jesus was spit upon and sat on the throne of glory by enduring the shame of being slapped on the cheek. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus endured the shame of the cross because he looked to the throne of salvation and glory that he would accomplish.