God’s ‘Red Carpet’ Is Different from Ours

Now that we’ve entered a new year, soon broadcasts of the annual award shows will begin – the Academy Awards (the Oscars), the Emmys, Tonys, the CMAs, ACMs, PDQs and XYZs. In fact, the Golden Globes is being aired this week. Are you shaking with anticipation? Think what you will of these showcases, some of which have devolved into platforms for political posturing. But they all share one thing in common: The red carpet.

Prior to each event celebrities and entertainment notables, wearing lavish and sometimes garish attire from renowned designers, parade across literal red carpets, reveling in the attention they receive. Representatives from the entertainment media – some of them celebs in their own right – fawn over these lovely and handsome folks, eager to capture their excitement over what another celebratory evening might hold. These are the crème de la crème, the “Who’s Who” of the silver and TV screens, stage, concert halls and arenas.

 

Watching them strut in all their glamour and sartorial splendor, we could easily conclude this is the ultimate in success. We can almost imagine these A-list characters wearing signs on their backs reading, “Betcha wanna be me!”

 

Did you know God has His own “red carpet”? He does, but with decidedly very different qualifications. We find numerous examples in both the Old and New Testaments, most of whom wouldn’t have been voted “most likely to succeed” in their high school yearbooks, let alone candidates for ‘starring roles’ in the Scriptures. For a closeup look at God’s version of the red carpet, we can turn to the 11^thchapter of Hebrews, often referred to as the “Hall of Faith. 

 

It starts with a couple of logical choices, Abel, Adam and Eve’s second son who offered a more faithful sacrifice to God than his vindictive, murderous brother, Cain. There’s also another of the first couple’s sons, Enoch, who “was commended as one who pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5) – to the degree that the Lord took him straight to heaven without experiencing death. 

 

But then we find a parade of virtual nobodies. Noah was happily minding his own business when God commanded him to construct a vessel to protect himself and his family from the global flood that would consume the rest of mankind. We’re told, “when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear [he] built an ark to save his family…and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith” (Hebrews 11:7).

 

Next comes Abraham, who obediently left a comfortable lifestyle for an unfamiliar place of the Lord’s choosing because “he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). However, in the process he twice lied about his wife Sarah, claiming she was his sister because he feared foreign kings would kill him because of her beauty. So, he was hardly Mr. Perfect. Nevertheless, “Abe” was singled out because, “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

 

The listing goes on to include Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, all of whom had checkered backstories but again were accorded special recognition solely because of their faith. Or as theologians would call it, “sola fide.” They’re followed by Moses, who flexed his faith muscles countless times while carrying out the dubious assignment of leading to headstrong, prone-to-wander Israelites. Not that he didn’t get sideways with God himself at times, but the Lord wasn’t looking for perfection, just genuine faith.

 

Perhaps most surprising in this ‘role call’ of biblical characters is a prostitute named Rahab. What?! She was the person who shielded the Israelite advance men when they came to scope out Jericho. You know, the city whose walls came tumbling down? “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient” (Hebrews 11:31).

 

Rahab is one of three women singled out in the earthly genealogy of Jesus Christ found in Matthew 1. Turns out she was the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth and became the father of Obed, who became the father of Jesse, whose son David would become king of Israel. She was David’s great-great-grandma.

 

Others cited in Hebrews 11 include flawed but faith-filled people like Gideon, Samson, David, Samuel, the prophets, mighty warriors and martyrs not identified by name. What’s most important is these were individuals very much like us, commended not because they graced the magazine covers and walked crimson carpets but because they had hearts for God and were willing to be used by Him.

 

Their lives – and deaths – were not in vain. Because as the chapter concludes, “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:39).

 

In our most dubious, faith-wavering moments, we can find encouragement from these men and women in the Hebrews “hall of faith.” If they could persevere, remaining true to the Lord until the end, there’s no reason we can’t do so as well. 

We might never stroll one of Hollywood’s red carpets, but as the verse above promises, “God has planned something better for us.” He’s preparing a red carpet for us that we can’t even imagine. And it’s not because of our acting, singing, or performing abilities. Anything we’ve done, for that matter. Solely because of our faith in the Lord and what He’s done for us. 

Are Your Role Models Still Living?

Most of us have role models, people we greatly respect and even would like to emulate. After watching the Olympics, athletes like Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles no doubt gained many thousands of new, ardent admirers. We might have someone at work, a very accomplished veteran, whose abilities and traits we’d like to see in our own lives.

Students often have favorite teachers, people who made learning not just fun, but truly an adventure. “I want to be like her (or him),” is a common reaction when we’re in the presence of an inspirational educator. As a writer, I’ve had a number of authors who in one way or another served as role models as I forged my own journalistic and literary career.

But have you ever considered that perhaps the very best role models are…no longer living? I started pondering this recently after hearing someone on the radio state emphatically, “All of my role models are dead.”

Think about it: How many times have we read sad reports about some supposedly upstanding citizen – an entertainer, athlete, politician, business leader, even a pastor or ministry leader – a revered role model for many, who was exposed for scandalous moral or ethical behavior? What happens when those we place on a pedestal tragically fall from grace, so to speak? We become disheartened, disillusioned, even devastated. How could those we held in such high esteem stoop so low?

So perhaps it’s a good idea for our role models to be from a different place and time. A local pastor for years has led a weekly discussion group called the Dead Theologians Society, in which men and women review the writings of Christian leaders from centuries past. Part of the reasoning is that eternal truth never has an expiration date. But there’s also no danger that sage spiritual minds of the past – like Augustine, Charles H. Spurgeon, St. Francis of Assisi, Andrew Murray, Martin Luther, A.W. Tozer, Teresa of Avila, Oswald Chambers, C.S. Lewis, Corrie ten Boom, John Bunyan, and many others – will become the subject of disgraceful headlines in tomorrow’s newspaper, on the Internet, or the nightly news.

This is one reason Hebrews 11 is such an important chapter in the Bible. Here we find men and women of faith – starting with Abel and continuing with other Old Testament patriarchs like Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Samson, David, Samuel and the prophets. As Hebrews 11:13 states, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.”

Later the chapter talks about individuals “who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised…” (verse 33). But it also points out that others, “were tortured and refused to be released…. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison…stoned; they were sawed in two, hey were put to death by the sword…” (Hebrews 11:35-37). Could we face that and remain true to what we believe?

The chapter concludes by stating, “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised” (Hebrews 11:39). In other words, they still were looking for the promised Messiah, clinging to the hope of redemption and life everlasting. And they didn’t have a local Christian bookstore, or a handy Internet website to go to for encouragement. All they had was faith, which the first verse of Hebrews 11 declares to be, “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

One of the hardest things in life is finishing well, whether it’s pursuing a college education, competing in an athletic event, forging a career, building a healthy marriage and family, or walking with God. It’s too easy, too tempting, to quit or take a detour along the way.

Many of our personal role models have started well. But how will they finish? Will we become disappointed to see them decide it’s not worth finishing their marathon? Will we discover their talk was a lot larger than their walk?

So maybe the guy was right – it’s best to have role models that are dead. Especially godly ones. We can study how they lived and try to discover how they succeeded in finishing well. Much like the apostle Paul, who wrote, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).