Focus

Relax and clear your head. Listen for the voice of God. What is God saying to you today?

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Read

Hebrews 10:19-25 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 10:32-39 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting. Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward. For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet

“in a very little while,
the one who is coming will come and will not delay;

but my righteous one will live by faith.
My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back.”

But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved.

 

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Reflect

As a preacher, I hate to admit this, but I used to dislike the book of Hebrews. I would try to tackle Revelation before I would even touch the book of Hebrews, and the reason I didn’t like was because there were so many references to the temple and the whole sacrificial system that I thought one would have to be a devout Jew or an Old Testament scholar to comprehend the full meaning of the book. What really helped me grasp the book of Hebrews was when I realized that Hebrews is to the New Testament what Exodus and Deuteronomy are to the Old Testament..

In Exodus and Deuteronomy you have this account of God’s people leaving Egypt, wandering in the wilderness, arriving at Sinai where they receive the law, and all the while they are on a journey that will eventually take them to the Promised Land.

In Hebrews 1-2, the author is addressing a group of Jewish believers with the fact that God has spoken uniquely in Jesus Christ (1:1-4), and God now invites them into a great salvation available in Christ (2:1-18), and they should not stop encouraging one another to stay the course and remain faithful to God in the midst of their suffering (3:7-14), and the motivation for staying faithful is the fact that we are receiving a better promised land than God’s people in the Old Testament. We are “receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.” (12:28)

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Pray

Almighty and Everlasting God, thank You for the eternal truth of Your Word. Thank you for Your Holy Spirit that convicts and molds me according to the standards of Your Word.

Go with God!