Hebrews 11 records a list of people that God identifies as heroes of the faith. As we’ve been studying these characters over the last several weeks, our hope is that by spending time with them we will become more like them. One of the most famous characters on this list is Moses.
Read Hebrews 11.23.
The story of Moses begins in the book of Exodus. Egypt has enslaved the people of Israel, but God’s hand is upon them, and their population is growing very quickly. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is getting nervous and makes this decree: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.” (Exodus 1.22) Pharaoh reasoned that if he could just eliminate the next generation of Jewish men he would have nothing to worry about.
Read Exodus 2.1–2.
As the story goes on, Moses is eventually adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter and is raised in the home of the king of Egypt, with the greatest resources and education that money could buy. However, Moses would go on to turn his back on all the riches of Egypt so he could lead the Jewish people into freedom and establish them as a nation once again.
But the key example of faith that the author of Hebrews is highlighting in 11.23 isn’t Moses’ faith. It’s the faith of his parents. They saw their boy had potential, and they knew God had a plan for him. So instead of bowing to Pharaoh, they protected his potential. We may think Moses was different because of the great things he went on to accomplish, but there isn’t as much distance between him and us as we may think.
Question: Are you familiar with the story of Moses? What are some of the great things he went on to accomplish? Spend some time in the book of Exodus to learn more of his story.
Read Psalm 139.13–16.
Not only are we fearfully and wonderfully made, but God had a plan for our lives before we even came out of the womb. And the distance between Moses and us only grows smaller if we know Jesus. Acts 4 describes an encounter that two of Jesus’ disciples had with the big-time power brokers of their day.
Read Acts 4.13.
These powerful men were astonished because Peter and John, ordinary men, were living extraordinary lives through Jesus. We all have been fearfully and wonderfully made. When we put our lives’ trust in Jesus, our lives are not so normal anymore. We have divine potential and divine power living right within us. God wants to take our natural and turn it into something supernatural.
This doesn’t mean that we won’t have to work hard to develop that potential. Successful people invest countless hours of blood, sweat and tears to get there. But the moment we entrust our lives to Jesus, God sees that we are not ordinary children anymore.
Even though Moses had great potential and God had an amazing plan for his life, Pharaoh wanted to squelch it. Sometimes our potential is someone else’s threat. Those threats come in all kinds of ways, sometimes from the outside, but also from the inside. They’re the voice we hear telling us that we can’t or causing us to compare ourselves to others.
Question: What threats to your potential have you encountered? Who has posed an external threat? What internal threats do you have to navigate regularly?
For every person with incredible potential, there are many Pharaohs in their lives seeking to squelch that potential. They tell us we’ll never amount to much or that our dreams are too big or the obstacles too great. What should we do when our potential is under attack?
Moses’ parents knew God had a plan for their son’s life, and they weren’t about to let Pharaoh mess it up. They took a big risk and did what they could to protect the potential entrusted to them.
God provided potential that we must protect. The most important way we can do that is to listen to the voice of God over the voice of people. It’s very easy for people to criticize someone who is living toward the dream God has for them.
Read Matthew 10.28–31.
We have to decide if we are going to listen to the voice of Pharaoh or the voice of God. The voice of God is always saying that we are no ordinary children. This is why it is important to read scripture daily. Our culture is trying to tell us one story that won’t lead to life, but God is seeking to tell us a different story.
Question: What are some stories our culture tells us that contradict God’s story? Where do these messages come from? Where do you hear God’s story from?
So far we’ve been talking about how to protect our personal potential, but our greatest potential isn’t our gifts and talents. The most significant potential that God has entrusted us with is the possibility of the gospel message. This gospel—that Jesus Christ came to earth, died on a cross and was raised to life again so that He might make every person new and someday restore the whole earth—brings transformation like nothing we can ever do.
In Mark 4 Jesus refers to the gospel message as a seed. A seed, like a baby, is vulnerable and takes lots of nurture and care. But Jesus says that when the seed of the gospel is properly cared for, it can produce 30, 60 or 100 times what was sown. The seed of the gospel is far more powerful than our greatest potential. Knowing that the seed of the gospel has greater potential than anything else, we need to make sure that it is planted and nurtured in our lives.
Question: Is the gospel seed planted in your life? Have you accepted it? If so, are you nurturing it? When do you make time to listen to God? In what ways have you gotten connected with other Christians?
But it doesn’t stop there. The seed also needs to be planted. The number one reason people say they don’t talk about Christ is that they’re afraid. They fear that they’ll be misunderstood, or that they’ll offend or that they’ll look like religious kooks. Moses’ parents weren’t willing to let fear prevent the seed of Moses’ potential from flourishing.
Earlier we looked at the story of Peter and John in Acts when the Jewish leaders took note of their boldness. Let’s look at what happens next.
Read Acts 4.17–20.
Peter and John are saying, “We’ve been given a seed that has changed our lives which God has called us to plant in the lives of others. Do you really think we’re going to let fear of you stop us? No way! We’re going to do what God has called us to do—be planters.”
God gave the gospel seed to us to change someone’s life and eternity. The most loving thing we can do for the people around us is to plant it!
Recent Comments