Torture – being mocked and/or flogged – imprisonment – restrained by chains – death by stoning, being sawn in half, or by the sword – wandering with little clothing – afflicted – mistreated – with no roof over their head. This is just a small description of what many men and women of faith endured years before Christ ever came.

As I read the description of what they endured for their faith in Hebrews 11, I was convicted of the fact that so many times my complaints about life are so petty. At this point in my life, I’ve never faced the things they faced. And unlike many people in the world today – I have a roof over my head, more clothes than I need, and more than enough to eat — not counting all the other material possessions I own.

Maybe it would do all of us who claim to follow Christ some good to meditate on Hebrews 11 more often. Verses 35-38 really convicted to me: “Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” (Hebrews 11:35-38 ESV)