“…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.” (Hebrews 11:6)
Earnest - a serious and intent mental state.
Hebrews 11 … the faith chapter. Throughout its forty verses lies example after example of Old Testament patriarchs who lived by faith, which was credited to them as righteousness. Jesus ushered in the dispensation of grace which had tied to it as a requirement, faith. Paul tells us in Hebrews without telling us straight out that good works are nothing more than good works and do not earn us passage into heaven. What he says is direct and impossible to misunderstand: “without faith it is impossible to please God.” He continues by saying that the criteria used regarding our faith is that we must not only believe in God’s existence, we must earnestly seek Him as well. God rewards those who diligently seek Him for in seeking Him we find Him and in finding Him we begin to know and understand, even in small part, who God is and who we are in Him.
To truly know God is to strive to link our desires to His. To truly know God is to allow His Holy Spirit to work in us. When and only when we do this will we begin to become like Christ in the way we think, speak and act. It isn’t an easy road we choose when we receive Christ. It’s a slow, grinding process fraught with pot holes and diversions, but we can be assured that the reward far outweighs the pain it takes to get us to our final destination. It should be understood that we are not to do our striving solely to achieve a reward, but rather out of obedience to the One who purchased for us a second chance. Without Christ’s death we have no hope.
Other ‘religions’ provide a way to a tranquil existence in this life; however, never address the problem our sin causes. Simply saying sin doesn’t exist or telling individuals that they must strip themselves of any and all pleasure in this life in order to come back in the next life as something far grander is simply man’s way of attaining heaven by some other means then through the One who declares Himself the only one true and Almighty God.
If we place the entirety of our faith and trust in Jehovah God, we shall be blessed with a lasting peace that the world can neither attain, nor understand. It is not fleeting as with other belief systems, but rather rests within us at our core. God shall reward those who seek Him earnestly.
WALK WITH THE KING AND BE A BLESSING!
