What Matters Most

Ever visited a cemetery, and felt this amazing sense come over you that underneath the earth lay a myriad of lives, stories, personalities, hopes, heartaches, and dreams?

I walk through a cemetery, and I want to know their stories.

I want to know more than the date they were born and the date they died.

I want to know more than the fact they were a “beloved mother” or someone missed.

I want to know what their lives had once looked like.

Why did he only live to be sixteen?

What exactly was she like to gain the title “beloved mother”?

What drove her to get up in the morning?

Did he ever fall in love?

What kind of legacy did he leave?

Most importantly, did they believe God?

I just started a series with the ladies of my church on the “Hall of Faith.” 

Hebrews 11 is a graveyard of tombstones that each say one thing:

                He believed God.

                She believed God.

Imagine visiting a cemetery where every tombstone said the same thing.

Where every tombstone said, So-and-so believed God.

We only have a glimpse into these people’s lives, but they were included in one of the most beloved chapters in the Bible because they believed God.

They weren’t heroes.

These men and women believed the One who is faithful.

They each lived a life that based everything they believed and everything they did on who God is and what He has said. They were fully convinced about who God is; fully convinced about His promises.

And they lived their lives based on that conviction.

                He believed God.

                She believed God.

And if that’s all our life says to this world, that’s all that matters in God’s estimation.

We’re told to look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

These men and women in Hebrews 11 all died in faith.

We’re seeking to live our lives by faith.

                ONLY because He is the Author of our Faith.

And He’s also the Finisher.

This chapter of gravestones testify to this fact.

He began their faith.

And He finished it.

That’s the only reason it will be said of any of us:

                _______________________  believed God.

[Click here to listen to the introductory lesson on The Hall of Faith.]