Faithful, Righteous, Prostitute? | Generous IRL - Week 4

Have you ever felt unqualified, unworthy, or unloved? Ever been in a place in life where you truly felt like a fish out of water? The funny thing is, some, or maybe many of you, feel that way. As we talk this month about being Generous IRL many of us think, yeah, right…like God could do anything with this.

I am out of place,  Surely not me. But you know as I have searched the Scriptures, and read some of the amazing stories of some of those amazing people whom God raised up to do extraordinary works and yes, that includes people who were Generous IR and then as I look closer I think, them?  You chose them? 

And God simply answers…yeah…I did.  Isn’t that cool?

Because, you see God has this way of grabbing hold of the most unlikely, unqualified, unworthy people and stirring their hearts, and the next thing you know we have a story of a person who walked in faith of God and God did something amazing through them. Hebrews 11:31 mentions one of them and lets us know what she had going on in her life that would have brought brokenness in general, but also in society’s eyes…she was an outcast.  Shunned by the good people of the land, unless they needed her services.

Who is it? Rahab and here is what it says about her.

Hebrews 11:31

³¹ It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

If you don’t know her entire story you might wonder, what exactly did she do, and why is she on this list of great people, and especially with that job title?

In the book of James, we find another mention of her that also makes her sound impressive in how she lived out her life of faith.

James, the Brother of Jesus says this:

James 2:25

²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?

Based on these two mentions of her in the New Testament part of the Bible…Rahab is…

Rahab is:

• A woman of faith
• Generous
• Righteous in what she did
• A prostitute.

As we walk through Joshua Chapter 2 we will get a better idea of what Rahab’s faith accomplished.