For by it the people of old received their commendation.
Hebrews 11:2
Abraham, Moses, David are people whose lives we admire. No matter how many times you’ve read their stories, they never get old. Defeating Goliath and parting the Red Sea just never fail to impress.
Many preachers have tried to pinpoint what made these people great. Was it their God-given courage? Zeal for the Lord? Dedication to holiness? What characteristic can we mimic to be as great as them?
The answer is right here in Hebrews 11:2. What made these people great was faith. It tells us that it was by faith that they received God’s approval and that anything we can admire in them originated from that faith.
It’s a good thing I don’t have to live 175 years to be a little like Abraham, lead a mass pilgrimage to be a bit like Moses, or wrestle a bear to kind of resemble David. Actually, Christians are already a lot more like their Biblical heroes than they think. We already share in their faith and receive God’s approval by it alone.
The people of old, those heroes of the faith we so admire, didn’t work their way into hero-status. It wasn’t for the great things they did that God declared them righteous. Galatians 3:11 tells us that one can please God by doing good things (because we all eventually fail) but that by faith men are declared righteous.
Faith is what matters. Faith is what we should learn from the stories of people like Abraham, Moses, and David. Their faith is what we should admire and mimic. Forget the great works they did because works won’t ever get us anywhere. Faith is what will make us commendable before God first. He desires faith before heroic action.
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