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希伯来书11:30-31：30以色列人因着信，围绕耶利哥城七日，城墙就倒塌了。31妓女喇合因着信，曾和和平平的接待探子，就不与那些不顺从的人一同灭亡。

         今天的人们喜欢追溯家谱。如果你的祖上有个重要人物，比如，一个国王、一个总统或一个有名的将军，你一定会为此骄傲。但如果你的祖上有个著名的妓女你会怎么想？马太在追溯耶稣的家谱时提到喇合是耶稣的祖先。在这里，喇合被列为信心英雄之一。

         为什么一定要提到喇合呢？我想这和保罗称自己为“罪魁”是出于同样的原因。我们能够称义是本乎恩也因着信，而不是出于我们的好行为。因此，喇合过去是什么并不重要，重要的是她因相信神的应许而变成了什么。那些探子和她讲了以色列的神，就是那位赐下应许的神，喇合就信了。她改变立场，将探子藏起来，这样以色列最终得胜。

       我很喜欢在哪里读过的一个关于恩典的定义。在圣经里上帝说：“不管你曾经做过什么事情，都不会让我爱你更少；但你也做不了任何事情能让我爱你更多。”一切是本乎恩，也因着信。我们唯独靠着信心称义。

祷告：天父上帝，谢谢你并没有根据我的德行来衡量我，因为那样的话，我必定全然灭亡。我知道我能成为你的孩子是藉着恩典和在耶稣里的信心。不论是今天还是每一天，请帮助我带着一颗仁慈的心生活。以仁慈的心去衡量我的邻舍，因为你曾用同样的仁慈衡量我。阿门。

Hebrews 11:  By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. 31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

        Today, people like to search their genealogies. If you have someone important in your ancestry, like a king or president or famous general, it makes you proud. But what if you could name a famous prostitute was one of your ancestors? Rahab in mentioned by Matthew in the ancestry of Jesus. Here, she is included among the heroes of faith.

Why would you point out someone like Rahab? I think it is important for the same reason that Paul called himself the “chief of sinners.” We are righteous by faith and grace and not by our merits. So what Rahab WAS is not so important as what she BECAME by faith in the promise. Credit the spies for telling her about the God of Israel, the God of the promise. She believed and she changed sides and hid the spies so that Israel would win the day. 

I love this definition of grace that I read somewhere.  In the Bible God says, “There is nothing you have done which can make me love you less, and there is nothing you can do to make me love you more.” It’s all by grace and through faith.  We are righteous by faith alone.   Prayer:   Thank you, Father, for not measuring me based on my merits, because then I would certainly be destroyed altogether.  I know that I am your dear child by grace and through faith in Jesus alone. Help me to live today and every day with a gracious heart that measures my neighbor with the same grace with which you have measured me.  Amen.