Faith and grace

I have to admit that I have trouble understanding why people like Gideon and Samson are mentioned in the “Hall of Faith” despite their failures.

It’s amazing to me that their failures are not even mentioned in this chapter.

But perhaps we see in this list the grace of God. That though we are flawed, though we sometimes stumble in our faith, through Christ, God does not see our flaws. Rather he only sees us as people clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

And that should be a comfort to us.

So often, we beat ourselves up for our failures, for the times that we failed to trust God and made a mess of things.

But while it is important to repent in those times, we should not let these failures discourage us or make us think we’re now worthless in God’s sight.

Remember instead that when God sees you, he sees his Son who died for you. And though you may have failed time and again, he holds no record against you. Your record has been wiped clean.

He will not accuse you on the day of judgment. Rather, he will welcome you with arms open wide. Not because you are perfect. But because you have put our faith in the One who is, and who died for us and rose again.

So as much as you may fall, you too may someday find yourself in that “Hall of Faith.”

And as with all the Baraks, Jephthahs, Gideons, and Samsons, God is not going to be pointing out all your failures, but all your successes.

So as Paul said,

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13-14)