Meditations

Hebrews 3

My unbelief will never short-circuit God’s promises. However, unbelief will exclude me from that circuit. So if God’s eternal promises do not reach me in the end, I have my own lack of faith and faithfulness to blame.

Hebrews 12:2 urges us to keep our focus on Jesus, who would be the One who both authors and completes our faith. Similarly, Hebrews 3:1 tells us to consider the Lord Jesus who was Himself faithful to the Father.

If we do not take heed to ourselves, a faithless and disobedient heart will surely lead us away from God and cut us off from Him (Hebrews 3:12). Part of taking heed is listening to the exhortations, cautions, and appeals from others lest we “be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).

Let us be “stedfast unto the end” as “partakers of Christ” (Hebrews 3:14)!

They got so close, yet “could not enter in because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19). Read it all

Amos 5:14,15,18-27

Just how sincere is my worship?

Just how intelligent is my worship?

I simply want to know if our worship is with understanding. Let’s focus on our singing. Do we know the meanings of the words we sing? Are we conscious of the statements we make while we sing? I suspect that we know so many of the songs and hymns so well that the words float out our lips without registering in our minds. That sounds like vain (empty) repetition to me.

When I catch myself singing without thinking about what I’m singing, I shouldn’t stop singing. No! I should start thinking…about what I’m singing. Instead of taking our tongue out of gear, we should get our heart in gear. We need to discipline our minds and spirits to focus on the object of our worship (God Himself) as well as on the vehicle of our worship (the words of our songs).

I propose Read it all

Hebrews 2:5-18

In what sense was He perfect as a man?

What made Him perfect in that regard?

For what purposes was He perfect as a human?

What does any of that have to do with you and me?

The Captain of our salvation (10) is the Author of our faith (Hebrews 12:2) and the Prince of life (Acts 3:15). In those verses, captain, author, and prince all translate the same Greek word.

He who is perfect makes us perfect (11).

He who is perfect destroyed the one who causes imperfection (14).

“To make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (10) — That is the route to perfection?! Read it all

Amos 2:4-8

Few Christians consider their home congregation ripe for God’s judgment. In studying about Judah and Israel, let’s accept the possibility that their experience has a warning for us. Might God have reason to judge our home congregations?

Choosing legalism instead of loving God’s Law. Many Christians despise God’s law by seeing it as a rule book that must be enforced in their lives and the lives of others. Their primary concern is for the specifics of the law, not its Spirit. Thus they end up trivializing the Word by not loving it. How do you and your congregation view and relate to the Word of God?

Overlooking obedience. Many Christians sincerely love the Word of the Lord. They live by it as best they know. But they are satisfied with that level of obedience. None of us dare become complacent about our knowledge of and obedience to God’s will. We must search the Scriptures, asking God for further knowledge of His will so that we might walk in that also. Does this describe you and your congregation?

Passively going after the previous generation. Read it all

Hebrews 1:4-2:4

How is Jesus superior to the angels?

• a superior name (Hebrews 1:4)
• a superior relationship with God (Hebrews 1:5)
• a superior over the angels (Hebrews 1:6)
• a superior position in the kingdom of God (Hebrews 1:7,8)
• a superior love for righteousness (Hebrews 1:9)
• a superior in accomplishments (Hebrews 1:10)
• a superior position over all (Hebrews 1:13)
• a superior message (Hebrews 2:1-3)

Read it all