Today’s Scripture Reading
Hebrews 11:6
“And without faith, it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek him.”
Our mission is entitled Faith In Practice. But what do those words mean? It may be pretty easy for us to identify the practice part that we accomplish. Taking care of patients, performing surgeries, distributing medications, etc. But what does the faith part mean and how do we define it in our lives?
In the 11th chapter of Hebrews, there is a long list of examples of faith. These are all referring to Old Testament heroes of the Bible, such as Abraham, Moses, King David, and prophets like Samuel. What was the basis of their service to God? It was faith.
We all place our trust in something that ultimately guides our lives. For some, it may be the pursuit of hard work, success, money, power, or even an important relationship. Over time, these things can become the center of our focus and energy.
The common thread is that whoever or whatever becomes most important in our lives begins to shape how we live and what we pursue. And while many of these things can be good, they are also temporary. We often take credit for them and assume we can control them, only to be reminded that life is far less predictable than we think.
But curiously, the author says the basis for pleasing God is not our own good works but continual faith in Him for who He claims to be. What does that mean? It means not only belief and acceptance, but trust in his sovereignty . And at the sake of being redundant, let’s again look at Mother Teresa‘s famous quote: “God did not call me to be successful, but he called me to be faithful.“
God calls us to trust in him, even when we can’t see where he’s leading us. He did that in Abraham’s life . He calls us to be faithful, even when it doesn’t seem to make sense to us and we can’t know the outcome. Look at Good Friday. And he calls all of us into his service, even those with less than stellar credentials like Rahab the prostitute as well as Peter who denied Jesus 3 times only to be given the task of starting the new Church. What a great examples of God using imperfect people to carry out his mission! (BTW that includes all of us)
So many of us want to come before God with our gleaming resume as we embark on this mission. And obviously we need qualified individuals to perform the tasks needed on the various teams. But the main requirement is faith that we can put in practice and trust God as we serve these patients; leaving the results to Him.
As always, if we really need an inspiration of how this faith works, we need only look to our patients and their families. Many times they have traveled 12 to 14 hours on a cramped chicken bus just praying for a chance to be seen in clinic early the next morning. Now that’s real Faith!
This is Faith In the God of the Bible, who is both sovereign and good and as Paul reflects in Romans 8:28. “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose”.
At Faith In Practice, many of us come from different places and experiences, but what unites us is a shared trust that God can use ordinary people to bring healing and hope
Dr. Mark Woolf
