“...and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, sawed in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” (Hebrews 11: 35-38)
Seventeen names are mentioned in the “heroes of faith,” in Hebrews chapter eleven. They are prominently listed throughout the Bible. But there are “others” whose names we do not know. The writer of Hebrews says simply of them, “of whom the world was not worthy.”
There are “others” around the world today in lands that do not accept the Christ of the Christian faith nor the believers who make up that faith. Many are experiencing torture, separation from families, and death.
Churches in America have a host of “others” also. They are not the movie stars and famous singers that strut across the pulpit area of our churches. They are not the ones whose names we put on the sign out front to draw a crowd. They are the ones that keep the lights on, that pray in secret or private, that sacrificially pay the bills, that love one another even when they themselves are despised and rejected. Are you willing to be one of the “others” in your service for the Lord?
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