Daily Bread
Daily Bread – Hebrews 3
12See to it, brothers(and sisters), that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15As has just been said:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion."
Observation:
The author of the book of Hebrews uses “familial” language (brothers and sisters) as he encourages the church to fix their thoughts on Jesus. As he encourages the early church in this chapter, he focuses in on how the believers might encourage one another.
He uses the example of the Israelites, who rebelled against God in the desert and angered God. They faced the consequences for their rebellion (ie. 40 years of wandering). To prevent this kind of apostasy (falling away from the faith) again, he tells them to encourage each other daily. Meaning, he doesn’t tell them to wait until the worship time to do it, but do it right now.
This reinforces that there is no way to live the Christian life alone. We will all battle with sin and its deceitfulness. Sin will try to get us to isolate from the power of community, or enable us to rationalize something going on in our lives that could have serious implications if not dealt with.
Application:
Who are the encouragers in your life? Do you try and live the Christian life on your own? Who is it that challenges you in your faith life and asks you the hard questions when necessary? Small groups are obviously an excellent place for this kind of encouragement to happen. But often small groups can become social in nature and not truly play the role of accountability for when we are straying spiritually.
Having a spiritual mentor is also an excellent way to get encouragement and develop accountability with a partner. Every Christian should have someone they are following and someone who knows where they are struggling and their plan to overcome the temptations we all face.
I found tremendous support over the years within the men’s groups I have established, and in particular “life accountability” groups. There is an urgency in this passage to create these kind of relationships “TODAY”, so don’t put it off! If you are not in these kinds of relationships, put it as a high priority/goal/resolution for 2010! You will never regret it!
Prayer: Thanks for the others you have called alongside us to encourage us to be faithful to you and not let us get entangled in sin. We know we can’t do it alone. Help us to both be encouraged by someone else and offer encouragement to those who need it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
12See to it, brothers(and sisters), that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15As has just been said:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion."
Observation:
The author of the book of Hebrews uses “familial” language (brothers and sisters) as he encourages the church to fix their thoughts on Jesus. As he encourages the early church in this chapter, he focuses in on how the believers might encourage one another.
He uses the example of the Israelites, who rebelled against God in the desert and angered God. They faced the consequences for their rebellion (ie. 40 years of wandering). To prevent this kind of apostasy (falling away from the faith) again, he tells them to encourage each other daily. Meaning, he doesn’t tell them to wait until the worship time to do it, but do it right now.
This reinforces that there is no way to live the Christian life alone. We will all battle with sin and its deceitfulness. Sin will try to get us to isolate from the power of community, or enable us to rationalize something going on in our lives that could have serious implications if not dealt with.
Application:
Who are the encouragers in your life? Do you try and live the Christian life on your own? Who is it that challenges you in your faith life and asks you the hard questions when necessary? Small groups are obviously an excellent place for this kind of encouragement to happen. But often small groups can become social in nature and not truly play the role of accountability for when we are straying spiritually.
Having a spiritual mentor is also an excellent way to get encouragement and develop accountability with a partner. Every Christian should have someone they are following and someone who knows where they are struggling and their plan to overcome the temptations we all face.
I found tremendous support over the years within the men’s groups I have established, and in particular “life accountability” groups. There is an urgency in this passage to create these kind of relationships “TODAY”, so don’t put it off! If you are not in these kinds of relationships, put it as a high priority/goal/resolution for 2010! You will never regret it!
Prayer: Thanks for the others you have called alongside us to encourage us to be faithful to you and not let us get entangled in sin. We know we can’t do it alone. Help us to both be encouraged by someone else and offer encouragement to those who need it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment