Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
Hebrews 11:1-7 (NIV)
Faith in Action
11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. 5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. 7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
This section in the book of Hebrews is often called the “hall of faith”. It highlights people from the Old Testament who trusted in God. But many people overlook that their faith was in God’s very real activity in human history. Faith is not an inner feeling or spiritual transcendence. Christian faith is seeing how God has acted in history and believing that God will continue to act. Although like Noah, we might not see what God will do next we believe that God will act because He already has. We see that most clearly in the death and resurrection of Jesus. A persistent faith clings to God in the ups and downs, when we feel high and low. You might not see your future salvation, but you can believe in it because of the historical activity of God who raised Jesus from the dead and promises to do that for all those who persist in faith.