If Bible Characters had Facebook

We have reduced our lives to Facebook status updates and 140-character Tweets. We scroll through and "like" the good news from a friend or "retweet" a funny thought. Social media only reveals the surface, though. We don't see the fight a friend had with a spouse, the stack of bills that don't match the checking account balance, or the disobedient kids with bad attitudes. We see those things quickly enough in our own lives but they don't come through in the controlled world of social media.

I started wondering what the Bible would look like in a world of social media, especially the lives of the great heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. We tend to idolize these great men and women of God. But they were real people too, with problems and bad habits like the rest of us.

Yes, Abraham made an amazing journey based on faith in God. But along the way he lied about the identity of his wife. He also thought he knew better than God when it came to issues of procreation - a decision that has messed up things in the Middle East for thousands of years.

Before Moses ever hungout with God at the top of Mt. Sinai, he murdered a man, made his wife really angry, and dealt with some major dysfunction within his adopted family.

Scripture mentions Rahab five times. Despite her faith and act of bravery, four out of those five times she is called "Rahab the prostitute." I guarantee you her life wasn't perfect.

David may have known how to praise God with all his heart. He was even God's choice for king of Israel. However, his life also included adultery, murder, and polygamy. He had so much blood on his hands that his son, Solomon, had to receive the honor of building God's Temple in Jerusalem. And let's not even talk about the problems with some of his kids! Oh my.

Don't feel alone. We all go through hard times, even the heroes of the Bible. The world isn't all 140-character perfection! All God asks from His followers is willingness to step out in faith. These four people did, as did many others listed in Hebrews 11. Their faith led to amazing experiences.