2 CHRONICLES 20:20
Do you ever wonder where the modern-day Pauls, Ruths and Martin Luthers are? When you accepted Christ, did you want to face the persecutions that Paul did or have faith like Esther? When I became a Christian, I never intended to be a “hero of the faith.” I think most of us want to live a Christian life that is safe and predictable. We don’t really ask for a faith that throws us out of our comfort zones or gives us an opportunity to risk our lives to obey God. I wonder why we don’t ask if we could be the Ruth of our generation, who gave up all she knew and loved and traveled to a foreign land. Perhaps we don’t even think in these terms because we don’t have a wide enough scope for God. If God is merely the guy who gets us to heaven, but is pretty confining and grumpy along the way, then He’s not worth risking comfort and security for. But what if we came to know God as unpredictable, wild, and untamable? Would we be willing to surrender our entire lives, to take risks, and to struggle through many obstacles for this kind of God? I think our God is a bit more ferocious than we think, and that He is waiting for us to trust Him, to want to experience some of His power. Maybe when we begin to understand that He is far greater, bigger, more powerful, and more worthy than we ever knew, we will find ourselves becoming the heroes of the faith in our generation.
Mary Kaylin Staub, 16, Heritage Academy, Flowery Branch, GA
Give me the faith that will be remembered
throughout history, Lord, not for my own
glory but for Yours.