Hall of Fame of Faith

I had lunch with a sweet friend this week who is track/cross country coach as well. She barely got into my car when she burst out the awesome news....she was just inducted into the Oklahoma Coaches Hall of Fame!!! Believe me there is no one who deserves it more than Coach Clay! She will be only the 2nd female ever to be inducted...Oh I was so proud of her.
There are a lot of hall of fames out there: the Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Nascar Hall of Fame, the College Football hall of Fame and on and on....
Wouldn't that be so awesome to be in one of them? Your name written somewhere that says you were the best of the best at what you were called to do.
I am reading through the book of Hebrews right now and I came across the Hall of Fame of Faith (Hebrews 11).... That's right the Hall of Fame faith. These were the people that God picked out to honor in His hall of fame. Some of the names include...Noah, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, and Samson. These are some big names of the Bible....but believe it or not they were men and women just like you and me. They were ordinary people that served an amazing God. They were ordinary people that had faith in an awesome God. Here is the thing....just because they had great faith didn't mean they were without faults. Yes, Moses had great faith the choose "to be mistreated with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin."(Hebrews 11:24) But it wasn't without fault...he murdered an Egyptian Soldier. Yes, Rahab had great faith to go against her people and hide the spies of God...but she wasn't without fault...Her occupation was a prostitute.
What we learn from our ancestors is that having great faith doesn't mean we are perfect it means we put our full trust in the one who is....God.
My favorite person in the Hall of Fame of Faith is none other than the MVP....Jesus.
"Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking the Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2
Jesus is the "founder and perfecter of our faith." You see he is not asking us to have great faith in something that He himself was not willing to. It took the greatest faith for Jesus to trust God his Father when he said, "Father, if there is any other way please take this cup from me, But not as I will but as you will." He went through the ultimate rejection from man so that you and I would never have to go through rejection from God.....that is our MVP of faith.
You and I can have a great faith in God because of the faith of our God. What do you need to trust God with today?