Today's Reading:
Job 4:1-7:21
Hebrews 3:1-19
Psalm 120:1-7
Click on Texts to Read Online
Focus Verses: Hebrews 3:1, 12-14
1
Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your
thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. … 12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
Insight:
The
writer of Hebrews encourages his Christian readers to fix their
thoughts on Jesus, and to hold firmly to him in faith to the end. He
warns them to not turn away from faith in the living God, and uses the
story of the children of Israel wandering in the wilderness to
illustrate his point. Their bodies fell in the desert, and they never
entered into the promised land because of their unbelief.
Response and Action:
More than a mere warning, the Hebrew writer suggests two things I can do to cultivate enduring faith. 1) I must focus on Jesus. I
should immerse myself in everything the scriptures tell me about Jesus
-- his words, his actions, his promises, his mission, his teaching, his
commands, his example, and his call to me. 2) I must be part of a Christian community that
encourages and admonishes me in faith. I should seize every opportunity
to stimulate and inspire others toward a deeper knowledge and
experience of Christ. In my circle of Christian friends, we should be
able to help each other identify and turn away from the deceitfulness of
sin.
O
God, you are my God, and I will ever praise you. I will seek you in the
morning. I will learn to walk in your ways. Lead me step by step that I
might follow you all of my days. Amen.
Spiritual Formation Verses: 1 John 1:5-7
5
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is
light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have
fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by
the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies
us from all sin.
Resources:
The Incomparable Christ
by John Stott
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