6 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[c] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.
20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
"She (Zipporah) bore a son, and he (Moses) named him Gershom; for he said, “I have been an alien residing in a foreign land.” Ex. 2:22
We just went over the parable of the sower and 3 soils (Mark 4) in Sunday School and the most troublesome is the thorny soil. It seems clear that if you are choked out and unfruitful by the cares of this world that you wouldn't be a follower of Christ like the Rich Young Ruler or Demas. After all, growth and fruit is the sign of life. Jesus cursed the fig tree that had no fruit and we know that the branches of the vine that had no fruit were cut off and thrown into the fire. But then there is the time that Jesus said in a parable not to cut it down but dig around it and fertilize the fruitless tree and if it doesn't bear fruit in a year, cut it down. Wasn't the writer of Mark, John Mark, guilty of deserting the mission team of Paul and Barnabas because the cares and comfort of this world outweighed what the fruitful life had to offer? Yet he went on to do great things for the Kingdom of God. It seems to me that the thorny soil is a mixed bag - some are truly saved and are in a period of life where they have become unfruitful due to being caught up in the cares of this world, and some who are unsaved and have simply added Jesus to their life here on Earth. Even the angels can't tell the two apart as seen by the parables of the wheat and the tares but God can because he can see their heart. Maybe that's why He cursed one tree and said to fertilize the other one.
Why am I discussing Mark 4 when the passage is Hebrews 11? Maybe it's because the thorny soil, unlike Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses. etc. is not living for the future but the present. In order to have the faith that pleases God, that He isn't ashamed of, and in the end - saving faith, one can't be living for this world but rather for their future in Heaven. For example, if you are living for pleasure, ease, and comfort, you won't go on a mission trip to 100 degree central America to share Christ. You won't want to use up 10 of your fifteen yearly vacation days to go to the Phillipines to give out sandals and eyeglasses. You won't spend $1800 to fly to Brazil to treat the sick in the fivellas because that money was going to redecorate my earthly home. You wouldn't risk your life to share Christ in the Middle East because you are afraid of death which takes you to your real home. You wouldn't share the gospel with your friends at school for fear they would shun you. You see, if you want to bear the 30, 60, 100 fold fruit, you have to live a life unencumbered by the thorns of this earth. If the cares of this world (the thorns) run your life you will be unfruitful and the writer of Hebrews would question if you truly have the faith that saves a person at all.
If you are unfruitful, look at the cares of this world that are holding you back and start weeding those thorns with God's help and the help of your brothers and sisters in Christ. Get a faith lift!
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