Heb 11:1
11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
NIV

Faith

Faith. What is it? Well, it would seem that the verse is pretty clear, isn’t it? And if you read the entire chapter, it talks all about people who gave everything down to their very beings for something that they couldn’t see or know. There was no tangible reason there—but they believed, and they got it.

Now, let me tell you why I brought this up. Today, people in Churches have redefined what Faith means. To them faith means that they’re going to the “right” Church, and they go at the “right” time, and they’re wearing the “right” clothes and their hair is fixed the “right” way, and they greet the “right” people the “right” way and they sing the “right” songs the “right” way and they hear the “right” message and then they go home and don’t remember much but that it was everything they had hoped it would be.

But Hebrews 11 goes farther than that. It talks about God forming the earth, and then things that different people did and how they showed their faith and what resulted for each of them. And we’re talking Heaven for them. Yes, they faced real human opposition! But they were true to God. No matter what the cost. And, without fail He rewarded each of them eternally!

So what does that mean to us today? Don’t we go at the “right” time? To the “right” Church? And don’t we do all of the “right” things? Maybe, but more importantly, do you have all of the “right” people there? You know, God made each of us individually the way we are now, for a reason and yet 96% of handicapped people have NO CHURCH to go to that will accept them.

As a father of 3 handicapped sons I have a huge problem with that number versus the reason that most people go to Church. People who are handicapped experience all of the negativity that society, outside the Church has to offer already, and it sounds like we often view church time as a religious social time, and I’m sorry but THAT’S NOT FAITH! What does that say to abnormal or handicapped people? Bringing those people that God created in as they are and loving them, teaching them and serving them and stepping out of OUR COMORT ZONES, now that’s faith!