As Christians we all fall short of the glory of God. We fail our Lord and fellow man EVERY day! But God knows this and wants to use us to fulfill his perfect will anyway. Romans 3:23-24 – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

Consider this… Hebrews 11 lists the great men and women of faith

Here are some excerpts…
–It was by faith Noah built and ark to save his family from a flood.
–It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land…
–It was by faith that Sarah together with Abraham was able to have a child, even though they were too old and Sarah was barren.
–It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him…
–It was by faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons…
–It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months…
–It was by faith that Rahab did not die with all the others in her city…

Others mentioned in the great annals of faith are Abel, Enoch, Isaac, Barak, Jephthah, Samuel, Samson, David, and Gideon.

Now let’s look at each of these great men and women of faith

Noah – was found by his sons drunk in his tent
Abraham – Lied about Sarah being his wife
Sarah – Didn’t trust that God would give her a son and offered their servant Hagar to Abraham so he could have a child
Jacob – Deceived his father
Moses – was not allowed to go into the promised land because he disobeyed God and even killed a man
Rahab – was a prostitute
Samson – allowed himself to be seduced by a woman
David – committed adultery with a married woman and then arranged for her husband to be killed
Gideon – rather than simply trusting, needed God to send him a sign.

It should be noted that God did not select extraordinary people to become great men and women of faith. No they were shepherds, prostitutes, and farmers. God can use ANY of us!! We just need to want to be used and be willing to increase our faith!

So why did God list these obviously flawed people as great people of faith. First we must understand that any great person of faith is human, therefore destined to sin. Each of these people had sin in their lives, but each of them also had great faith in the promise of their God. I believe that this listing of great men and women of faith should serve as both a comfort and a challenge. We should be comforted that our faith will not come without stumbling, but that stumbling should not crumble our faith. Each of these people, although inherently flawed believed in the promises of God.

We too can believe in the promises of our God. He promises to give us comfort, He promises to take care of us through hard times. He promises to always love us and to never leave us. He promises that He has a better home for us in heaven. He promises that our Lord and Savior will once again return to bring each of us to our final home.

Now our faith comes into play. Do we believe all of His promises? Do we believe that He will not leave us? Do we believe that He can carry us through hard times? Do we believe that He has gone to prepare a place for us? What behaviors do His promises prompt in us? How is our faith demonstrated?

God uses very flawed, imperfect people to achieve his perfect will. God does not define us by our mistakes; we are defined by how we react to those failures. Each of these individuals although greatly flawed were still considered GREAT EXAMPLES OF FAITH.

We can’t earn salvation, but we can all be diligent in our service to Him. Let us each pray that God sees in us great faith and at that time when we meet our heavenly Father, He will say to us, “Well done though good and faithful servant!”