Better Promises : WK 2 - TUE
(Hebrews 3:12-19)
Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. Remember what it says:
“Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts
as Israel did when they rebelled.”
And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt? And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.
The Israelites have always baffled me. When I think about everything that they experienced as they were coming out of Egypt, I don't understand the decisions that they made. Think about it.
They saw all the plagues while they were in Egypt. Then they left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea miraculously, being led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When they were thirsty, God brought water out of a rock. When they were hungry, God brought birds out of the sky and bread out of the ground. They came to Mount Sinai and saw a great demonstration of God's power that overwhelmed them. What else did they need to know to believe that God was with them and leading them? And they still turned their back on him.
I want to judge the Israelites for the lack of faith, for their lack of following the will of God but when I think about my own life, I realize I'm not much different. I'm a lot like the Israelites who received this letter from the author of Hebrews. At any moment I'm in danger of turning my back on God if things get hard. But I don't want to be that guy and I'm sure you don't either.
It's great to know that the author of Hebrews understood that the community can be a weapon against turning away from God. When we plug into the community, the family of God that we are all now a part of, we can watch out for each other. The author of Hebrews tells us to warn one another so that we don't fall away.
Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. Remember what it says:
“Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts
as Israel did when they rebelled.”
And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt? And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.
The Israelites have always baffled me. When I think about everything that they experienced as they were coming out of Egypt, I don't understand the decisions that they made. Think about it.
They saw all the plagues while they were in Egypt. Then they left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea miraculously, being led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When they were thirsty, God brought water out of a rock. When they were hungry, God brought birds out of the sky and bread out of the ground. They came to Mount Sinai and saw a great demonstration of God's power that overwhelmed them. What else did they need to know to believe that God was with them and leading them? And they still turned their back on him.
I want to judge the Israelites for the lack of faith, for their lack of following the will of God but when I think about my own life, I realize I'm not much different. I'm a lot like the Israelites who received this letter from the author of Hebrews. At any moment I'm in danger of turning my back on God if things get hard. But I don't want to be that guy and I'm sure you don't either.
It's great to know that the author of Hebrews understood that the community can be a weapon against turning away from God. When we plug into the community, the family of God that we are all now a part of, we can watch out for each other. The author of Hebrews tells us to warn one another so that we don't fall away.
- Who is someone who watches your back, spiritually speaking?
- Has there ever been a time where you felt like turning away from God? How did you deal with that situation?
- What is the right approach when you see someone walking down a dangerous path?
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