Tim’s Daily Bread Devotional 10.16.21

By October 16, 2021Daily Bread

Good morning!

I hope this day finds you and your family well. I invite you to take a few moments with me to read and reflect upon today’s scripture selection — and to carry these thoughts with you into your day.

Today’s Scripture: Hebrews 11:1-29

In The United Methodist Hymnal there is a hymn entitled, “O, For a Faith that Will Not Shrink,” and I share the following two stanzas with you at this moment:

O, for a faith that will not shrink,

Though pressed by every foe,

That will not tremble on the brink

Of any earthly woe!

A faith that shines more bright and clear

When tempests rage without;

That when in danger knows no fear,

In darkness feels no doubt.

 

Does that hymn resonate with you?  Would you like to have greater faith in God? The Disciples did. They were honest and forthright, and they asked Jesus, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5)

I think a lot of us would ask the same of Jesus, “Lord, increase my faith!” In this passage of scripture, the writer of Hebrews talks about the role of faith in the lives of some of the people of faith in the Hebrew Scriptures.

This passage of Hebrews is sometimes called the “Hall of Faith,” because it is a kind of recitation of the names and circumstances of some of the great “heroes” of the Bible, and it points to the power of faith in their lives.

The better synonym of the word “faith” isn’t “belief.”  It is “trust.”  It is akin to belief, but it goes a step beyond. It is not just believing a chair will hold you up if you sit in it; it is sitting in the chair.  It isn’t just believing the ice is thick enough to skate; it is putting on the skates and getting out on the ice. It isn’t just believing in God; it is trusting completely in God.  That’s biblical faith.

Oh, the power of faith! Faith is famously defined in the first verse: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  That assurance and that conviction has great power to get us through the most difficult times and to give us hope for a brighter tomorrow.

What do you hope for?  What are your convictions?

Thank you for sharing this moment of your day with me, with God, and with these words of scripture and reflection.

Grace and Peace,


Dr. Tim Bruster
Senior Pastor