“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.”- Hebrews 11:24–26
When Hebrews speaks about the faith of Moses, it gives us quite a list.
His parents hid him after his birth. Moses later walked away from his privileged position in Egypt. He kept the Passover. Israel crossed the Red Sea.
It would be easy to read all of this as a chapter about extraordinary people doing extraordinary things for God. If that is our reading, the application almost writes itself: Moses had great faith, so we need to develop enough faith to do great things too.
I don’t think that gets to the heart of the passage.
Hebrews repeatedly says that these things happened by faith. The actions were real and sometimes costly, but something preceded them. Moses had become persuaded of something that changed the value he placed on everything around him.
The question, then, is not simply, What did Moses do?
It is worth asking, what did Moses believe that made him willing to do it?
Moses Saw Egypt Differently
Moses occupied an unusual position. Although he was born a Hebrew, he had been raised in Pharaoh’s household. Egypt offered him status, security and access to enormous wealth.
Hebrews tells us that when Moses grew up, he refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to identify himself with the people of God, even though they were slaves.
On the surface, this looks like a terrible exchange.
He was leaving privilege for mistreatment.
Hebrews explains his reasoning:
“Considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.”— Hebrews 11:26
Moses had begun assigning value differently.
Egypt’s treasures were certainly real. Hebrews does not pretend otherwise. The pleasures available to him were real too, but they were temporary. Moses had become convinced that what God had promised was worth more than what Egypt could offer him immediately.
His faith changed his perspective before it changed his behaviour.
That distinction matters.
Moses did not earn God’s promise by giving up Egypt. He gave up Egypt because he believed something better was true.
This is one of the clearest ways to understand the relationship between faith and works. Works can be the expression of faith without becoming the basis of our relationship with God.
Faith Was Not Moses Trying Hard Enough
We sometimes talk about faith as though it were another spiritual achievement.
A difficult situation appears and we think, I need more faith.
Then we try to generate it. We repeat something more often, try harder not to doubt, suppress every fearful thought and wonder whether we have finally reached the necessary amount.
That can turn faith itself into a work.
Moses’ story points in another direction. His actions flowed from what he had come to believe about God and His promise.
This does not mean Moses never struggled. Anyone familiar with his story knows that he did. At the burning bush, he had questions and objections. Later he became frustrated, frightened and angry. Hebrews is clearly not presenting us with a man who maintained a perfect psychological state for the rest of his life.
Yet underneath those very human experiences was a growing persuasion about God.
That persuasion eventually became stronger than what Egypt represented.
He Endured Because He Saw What Others Could Not See
Hebrews continues:
“By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he persevered, as though seeing Him who is unseen.”— Hebrews 11:27
That last expression says a great deal about faith.
Moses could see Pharaoh.
He could see Egypt’s military strength, its wealth and its power. He knew perfectly well what Pharaoh could do.
God could not be seen with his physical eyes, yet Moses increasingly lived as though the unseen God was more substantial than the visible power standing in front of him.
Faith did not require Moses to pretend Pharaoh was harmless. It gave him a larger reality within which to understand Pharaoh.
This is why biblical faith should never be reduced to positive thinking. Positive thinking tries to produce confidence by concentrating on a desirable outcome. Biblical faith is confidence in God.
The Passover Makes the Connection Even Clearer
Hebrews next says:
“By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch them.”— Hebrews 11:28
This is especially important when we think about faith and works.
On the night of the Passover, the Israelites were told to put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. God’s promise was:
“When I see the blood I will pass over you.”— Exodus 12:13
Their security that night did not depend upon how impressive the people inside the house were.
Imagine two Israelite households.
One family might have been completely calm, confident that God would keep His word. Another might have been frightened, listening to every sound outside and wondering what would happen.
If the blood was on both doors, what made the difference when judgment passed through Egypt?
The blood.
Their faith was expressed in taking God at His word and placing the blood where He had told them to place it. The effectiveness of the blood did not increase according to the emotional strength of the people inside.
That becomes a beautiful picture when we come to Christ.
Our security before God is not based upon the intensity with which we believe. The object of our faith is what matters.
Jesus is our Passover Lamb.
His blood has been shed.
The sacrifice has already been offered.
We are not trying to make the blood effective through the quality of our believing. Faith receives what God has provided.
The Red Sea Was Crossed by Faith
Then comes one of the most famous moments in Israel’s history:
“By faith they passed through the Red Sea as through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.”— Hebrews 11:29
Israel found itself trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the sea.
Interestingly, Exodus does not describe a crowd of people displaying magnificent confidence. They were terrified. They complained to Moses and wondered why he had brought them out of Egypt to die.
Yet Hebrews says they crossed by faith.
That alone should challenge some of our ideas about what faith must feel like.
Faith does not always feel fearless.
The Israelites were afraid, but when God opened the way, they walked through it.
Their faith was not measured by whether they experienced a moment of anxiety. It was seen in their willingness to trust God’s provision enough to move.
Sometimes we wait for every trace of uncertainty to disappear before we think we can act in faith. Scripture gives us much more human examples. People can experience fear and still trust God. Questions can remain while we take the next step.
Faith is not emotional perfection.
What Does This Mean Under the New Covenant?
This is where the story of Moses becomes particularly relevant for us.
We can read Hebrews 11 and turn faith into another law:
Believe harder. Do more. Become like Moses.
But the New Covenant does not give us a new method for earning God’s favour. It announces what Jesus has already accomplished.
Christ has dealt with our sins.
We have been reconciled to God.
We have received His life.
His Spirit lives within us.
Our righteousness before God is not being accumulated through successful Christian living.
Faith receives these realities and learns to live from them.
This is why the renewal of the mind matters so much.
Paul writes:
“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”— Romans 12:2
Our minds do not automatically think according to grace simply because we have become Christians. Years of fear, religious thinking, self-reliance and performance-based ideas can remain in the way we see ourselves and God.
We therefore keep returning to what is true.
Not because repeating truth earns something from God, but because our thinking needs to become aligned with what He has already accomplished.
We Don’t Need to Manufacture “More Faith”
When Christians say, “I need more faith,” I understand what they usually mean. They want to trust God more deeply.
But it can easily become another form of striving, as though faith were a spiritual substance we must accumulate before God can act.
Jesus spoke about faith as small as a mustard seed. The point was never that we needed to become experts at producing enormous quantities of it.
What matters is where our confidence rests.
A weak hand can receive a strong gift.
Our confidence can sometimes feel shaky while Christ remains completely sufficient.
The answer is therefore not endless introspection about whether we possess enough faith. We keep looking toward Christ, hearing the gospel and allowing what is already true in Him to reshape the way we think.
Over time, that changes how we live.
Moses regarded God’s promise as more valuable than Egypt because he had become persuaded of something. Israel put blood on the doors because they believed what God had said about the blood. They walked into the opened sea because God had provided a way through.
Their actions came out of trust.
Grace Living Is Different From Law Keeping
Law keeping begins with demand.
It tells us what must be accomplished and leaves us responsible for producing the required righteousness.
Grace begins with provision.
Under the New Covenant, God is not standing at the end of the Christian life waiting to see whether we perform well enough to qualify for what Christ purchased. We begin with what has already been given to us in Jesus.
That changes the motive from which Christian living grows.
I can forgive because I know how completely I have been forgiven. I can give without trying to purchase God’s blessing. I can resist sin without imagining that a failure will send me back underneath condemnation. I can take steps of faith without first achieving a flawless internal state.
Grace does not make obedience unnecessary. It changes where obedience comes from.
This is why Paul could write that “the love of Christ controls us” (2 Corinthians 5:14). The Christian life grows from something God has done to us and for us, rather than from an attempt to make ourselves acceptable to Him.
Holding to What Is Already True
There will be times when circumstances tell us something very different from what we know in Christ.
Moses knew that experience.
Egypt looked richer than God’s promise. Pharaoh looked more powerful than an unseen God. The Red Sea looked like a dead end.
Faith did not change those appearances by pretending they weren’t there. Moses and Israel learned to give greater weight to what God had said.
That is where renewing our minds becomes practical.
When condemnation tells me that my failure has separated me from God, I return to what Christ has accomplished.
When I begin measuring God’s love by my circumstances, I remember that His love has already been demonstrated at the cross.
When my Christian life turns into a project of trying to earn what God has freely given, I return to grace.
When fear becomes louder than truth, I do not need to condemn myself for feeling afraid. I can bring my mind back to the One I trust.
This is not a technique for manipulating circumstances. It is learning to live according to reality as God has revealed it in Christ.
Moses Looked Forward; We Look Back at Christ
Moses lived before the cross, yet Hebrews says that he considered “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.”
He was looking forward within the unfolding promise of God.
We have the privilege of looking back at its fulfillment.
The Passover lamb pointed forward to Christ. We know the Lamb who was sacrificed.
Moses led Israel through the sea toward freedom. Christ has accomplished a much deeper deliverance from sin and death.
Moses lived under a covenant that would eventually give way to something better. Hebrews has spent much of the letter explaining that we now live under that better covenant, established through Jesus.
So perhaps the lesson from Moses is not that we should leave Hebrews 11 feeling inadequate beside someone who apparently possessed a heroic quantity of faith.
His story invites us to consider what happens when someone becomes persuaded that what God says is more trustworthy than what everything around him seems to say.
For us, that persuasion has a firm foundation.
We have Christ.
We have His cross and resurrection.
We have the promise of the New Covenant.
We have His Spirit within us.
The Christian life is learning to trust these realities, allowing them to renew our thinking and increasingly living from what grace has already given.
Moses’ faith produced action, but his actions were never the source of the promise.
The same remains true for us.
We do not live faithfully so that grace will finally become ours.
We learn to live by faith because, in Christ, grace already is.
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