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The Faith Equation

Sun, Apr 19, 2009

Devotional

Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. ‘Go, look over the land,’ he said, ‘especially Jericho.’ So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.”  Joshua 2:1

Honestly, I just don’t get it.  The spies went and entered someone’s house?  Shouldn’t they have been doing more spy-ish things, like ducking behind cacti while the mission impossible theme song played in the background?  And why of all places did they go to a prostitute’s house?  I don’t want to give God’s guys a bad wrap here, but this really just doesn’t seem logical to me.

But what makes even less sense is that this prostitute made it into God’s hall of fame.  Better than a star on Hollywood Boulevard, Rahab is listed among spiritual giants such as Abraham, Noah, Joseph and Moses.  What on earth could a prostitute do to be ranked among the likes of such men?

Well, she hid the spies.  That simple.  When the king of Jericho came looking for them, she lied and said they had already left (Joshua 2:4).  I’m not trying to make light of what she did.  I have no doubt Anne Frank was exceedingly grateful to the people who hid her from the Nazis and thereby saved her life.  The spies’ gratitude is just as apparent as they agree to wipe out all of the city except for Rahab and her family.  But what is it that makes Rahab so extraordinary?  Hebrews 11:31 gives us the first half of the answer:

By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.”

Faith.  Rahab exhibited tremendous amounts of it as she talked to the spies, yet it is only part of the solution.  James 2:24-26 completes the equation.

You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

How is this equation playing out in your life?  Are your deeds linked to your faith?

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Galatians 5:6b

This post was written by:Stacy

Stacy - has written 53 posts on "The Intersection"..

My dear husband says I’m feisty, quirky, and spunky. Some friends describe me as sensitive, caring and compassionate. Another friend laughs at my (frequent) cooking mishaps. My daughter thinks I’m a great tea-party companion and, currently, my infant son views me as the milk machine. And who do I say I am? Well, that’s tricky to answer. Definitely all of the above, but so much more. I’m a woman who desperately loves God. I try to follow His will and purposes for my life–sometimes I’m successful, yet many times I fail miserably. Sunsets refresh me and watching the ocean’s waves invigorates me as I view a dance my God orchestrated. Traveling allows me to view God’s distinct fingerprints. Running clears my mind and reading lets me journey to places my budget or time constraints would never accommodate. Being a freelance writer and public speaker is terrifying yet simultaneously immensely gratifying. For more information about me, see the "About Author" pages.

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1 Comments For This Post

  1. Patti Teats Says:

    Stacy,

    Simple faith, faith as small as a mustard seed….that’s all that God requires. And, why because of our simple faith is it sometimes so difficult to be simply obedient like Rahab? In obeience to Christ we express our faith by loving others, like my neighbor, Brady. In our Condo community he has been rejected by others because he’s not “like the rest of us”. For some reason, Mark and I are able to relate to him and he resonds because of unconditional love. It is more difficult for me to the love the ones who know better—the ones who are believers in our community. God, help us all! Thank you for your thoughts.

    Patti

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