A Different Direction

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

DIFFERENT DIRECTION

1 Cor 1:4-6
4 I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way — in all your speaking and in all your knowledge— 6 because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.
NIV


First of all we have to come to terms with the concept of thanking God for other who are partaking in God’s grace. That would require our prays to be about more than ourselves, in fact, our prayers would certainly be about thanking God for others who have been saved. Do we thank God for the fact that others have been enriched in every way? Of course that would also mean that we have been enriched in every way as well, because those others are supposed to be thanking God for us alsol. Now that would also mean all the others as well as us have been enriched in all our speaking and our knowledge. If we explore the word enriched, the original language carries the concept of to make wealthy. So them we are wealthy in our words and knowledge about Christ Jesus. That is pretty awesome. Now we do have to ask ourselves if we in fact take full advantage of that wealth. Do we speak good words? That is to say, do we exhibit an enriched vocabulary from our enriched knowledge? Do we speak about Christ, or about the weather, celebrities, sports figures, and whatever other dribble that comes to our mind, which would include gossip? If we have been enriched in every way, we should speak as such. Our lives should be an example of someone who is wealthy in Christ. If we are in fact thanking God for others, we should also be telling them we are doing so, because they are saved. We should be letting them know they are enriched in their words and knowledge as well. We should be lifting them up, encouraging them in their walk with Christ, keeping them aware of the grace God has enriched them with. It would seem this is so importance that we should not have time to speak of anything else. It is hard to imagine Paul walking up to us and asking, “Did you see the game between the Romans and the Christians last night?” or “How about that weather, that wind was something else?” Oh sure, some small talk might be alright, but our calling here is to thank God for someone else, and tell them so. That might make the conversation take a whole different direction.

Sanctified

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

SANCTIFIED

1 Cor 1:1-3

1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ — their Lord and ours: 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

NIV

The fact is that we are sanctified, which means we are made holy in Christ Jesus, and we are called to be holy. So how can we have been made holy in Christ Jesus and still be called to be holy? Are we not already holy because of Christ Jesus? If that is so then what is this call to be holy all about? Perhaps we are called to Christ Jesus, or it could be that we are called to live an upright life after being made holy in Christ Jesus. Now the definition or use of which applies in the context is to be set apart for God, as it were to be exclusively his. So then we have been made holy in Christ Jesus we are called to be set apart to God, to be exclusively his, and no longer service our own interests, but solely service his.  Truly it would be a better way of life, for in service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ we would find the greatest satisfaction, as well as the most extreme reward, eternal life. Yet it would also be a far better life here on this earth as well. It has been said that we cannot out give God, although we may not be sure who said it. Yet that statement seems to bear truth, for if we live to solely service God, he will in turn bless us beyond our wildest imagination. If we think we have the ability or resources to live a good life, he has so much more ability and resources to empower us for a really good life, but we cannot focus on the reward, we must focus on him.  There could be times when it may not seem we are living the really good life. There may be times when is seems trouble follows us wherever we go. There may be times when our health or wealth is not exactly what we think they should be. All this could be either from an attack of the evil one, or maybe a test from the Holy one. We cannot allow anything to distract us from service to our God. We have been set apart for him, and exclusively for him, so that is who we are, his. This is why we accept all the grace and peace he has to offer, and we know that grace is his divine influence upon our hearts and the reflection of that in our lives, and peace is the spiritual prosperity of our being. So why would we even want to service our own interests when we have God to serve, for we are sanctified.  

Be Exhorted

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

BE EXHORTED

Heb 13:22-25

22 Brothers, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written you only a short letter. 23 I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you. 24 Greet all your leaders and all God's people. Those from Italy send you their greetings. 25 Grace be with you all. NIV

The last of this letter which is the final salutation, most of which is of a personal nature and so there must be something here for us to learn from. Of course we could focus on bearing with this word of exhortation as that may be more difficult than it sounds. When we are exhorted by the Word of God, do we accept it, bear with it? Or do we hear it, think that is was sad that so and so was not there to hear it, for they really should have as they are in need of it far more than we are? Do we take exhortation personally within our own being? Some might approve the Word of God with a historical view, seeing the failures of those men of the past and how God dealt with them, but not seeing the significance for today. However we approach the Word of God, it should be with the idea of being exhorted to walking in a way which pleases God. Surely that does include a greeting of all the saints, even those who we may have some not so good feelings about. Then again we should be exhorted to rid ourselves of those feelings, so that we can earnestly greet all the saints. Lastly we should be able to seek the grace of God for all of our brothers and sisters in Christ. If we have any ill feelings at all about any of our fellow believers it might well interfere with asking for the grace of God to rest upon them. If we feel envy, jealousy, bitterness, inferior, superior, or for that matter any feelings other than the pure love of God for them we surely would not be able to speak the Grace of God on them with a whole heart. And if we speak it, but harbor something within, it will be worse than saying nothing. We cannot speak falsehoods, but must speak the truth or do not speak at all. So let us first accept the exhortation from the Word, and let us greet each other with the love of God, seeking His grace for their lives. Let us be exhorted.

To Whom is the Glory?

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

TO WHOM IS THE GLORY?

Heb 13:20-21

20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

NIV

Here it is, right up and in our face. A blessing from the author of this letter who by God’s very word declares this is God’s breathed words, tells us that God will equip us with everything good for doing his will and not only that but He will work in us what is pleasing to him. Now if any of us think for one minute that we can spend any of God’s blessings on our own selfish ambitions we are sadly mistaken. Those tooth filled smiling preachers who surround themselves with television cameras and large crowds proclaiming God what to shower you with wealth are simply false teachers who will get their due. Yes God will provide for us. Yes he will meet our needs and protect us from the evil one. But it is clear that above all else God desires for us to do his will and that we allow him to work in us that which is pleasing to him, which by the way may not be pleasing to us, unless of course it is also our desire to please him. Contrary to the belief of some, God is not our genie in a bottle, but rather we are his children, who need to see our place in the family of God. He is the Father and he knows what is best for us. The concept of that old television program of the 50’s “Father knows best” may have been replaced with “Self knows best”. We need to see that God will equip us, he will give us all the necessary skill sets, and abilities to accomplish his will for our life, which is doing his will. All our knowledge, all our abilities, all our strength and all our determination has been given to us by God so that we can accomplish his will, not ours. We need to be focused on what he desires us to be doing rather than what we desire to do. We need to see all we are is because of him and all we do should be about him. We cannot be so introspective that most of our life we think about our own desires, and our own goals, our own lifestyle, our own self, our security, even our own family, but we need to be thinking about what does God what to do in my life so that I will be a benefit to his kingdom. The questions we have to ask is are we bringing glory to our self, or to Jesus Christ. To whom is the Glory for ever and ever? 

Pray For Us

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

PRAY FOR US

Heb 13:18-19

18 Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. 19 I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon.

NIV

Certainly this is a statement of a personal nature from the author to the reader for which it was written, yet God also says that all of scripture is profitable for teaching, correcting and rebuking and training in righteousness, so that would include this statement. What can we learn from this? Maybe it is as simple as the fact we should pray for others, even though they have a clear conscience and that they desire to live honorably in every way. Maybe all too often we only pray for people when they are in some sort of need, whether that be a physical or spiritual one. Maybe we only pray for others when they ask for prayer for a particular situation, although it is not too often we hear people ask for prayer for themselves. For the most part prayer requests are usually for a friend who has a brother whose aunt has a second cousin who has a problem or some sort of convoluted relationship so far removed from those who are being asked to prayer that it is almost meaningless. Should not the request for prayer be from one person seeking the other to prayer for them? This is what we are seeing  and learning here and it is not a request for a physical need or a spiritual need, but simply a request to be lifted up before God, although the author does desire to have them pray that he will once again be able to be with them. The desire to fellowship is a matter of asking for prayer about. It may not be so much that we learn about prayer here as much as it is for the desire to live with a clear conscience and to live honorably in every way alone with the desire for fellowship. This would certainly refute that we are an island onto ourselves and that we really truly need to be in fellowship with others, not just friends, but fellowship. That would require speaking about more than the weather, politics in season, sports, personal agendas or gossip about others. Whatever has happened to talking about God, and His Word and our walk with Him, when we gather together with fellow believers? Whatever has happened to personal prayer requests? They do not have to be about a need other than to be a blessing to God, although needs surely can be sought for also. Pray for us.

Advantage

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

ADVANTAGE

Heb 13:17

17 Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

NIV

First we have to come to terms with who are the leaders and without question this is speaking to those who have spiritual authority over others. This has nothing to do with Governmental leadership at all, for these leaders keep watch over others as men who must give and account, which is to God. So we must look to those who keep watch over our spiritual well-being for guidance and we should listen carefully to their words of instruction and encouragement in our walk with the Lord. There should not be any spirit of rebellion within us either. We should not be talking negatively about how they lead the church, the choices they make for the direction of the church, the way they lead, their personality or any other form of dissent. If we believe in God, and we believe He calls people to ministry and that He calls them to special places of service, then we have to know that He knows them far better than we do and He is directing their paths and where and how to lead the church to what He wants it, us to be. Now are there people who are leading the church astray? Indeed that may be the case. Some people are surely operating out of pure selfish greed for wealth and power. But God has given us the gift of discernment and our spirits bear witness to those types of individuals, who look to lead in a national media style, hoping to reach out and gather as many followers as possible to gain more control and wealth. But the leaders here are the local shepherds who actually watch over us, who know who we are, who sit and listen to our struggles, both physically and spiritually. These individuals are invested in our spiritual lives, seeking to strengthen us, encourage us, and pray with and for us, with full knowledge of all our weaknesses. These are the people we need to not only listen to, but to obey their instruction. We need to show them our earnest affection, and desire to obey their instruction, so their calling will be a joy. When we fight against them, write letters of dissatisfaction, or tell them of our displeasing attitude about something they are doing in their leading of the church, we bring burden upon them. This should not be. God is in control of the whole of the church, and our spirits should bear witness to the leaders He has called to lead us. Then we will be at a great advantage.

Pleasing God

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

PLEASING GOD

Heb 13:15-16

15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

NIV

Although there is no longer any need to kill animals in order to sacrifice their blood to God, as we see here, we still need to offer God a sacrifice of praise. It would seem only natural that within a worship service at church we sing songs of praise to God. Yet it also seems that in the postmodern era many songs are not about praising God. So how do we offer him a sacrifice of praise? Is it in our daily lives? When something goes right, are the first words from our lips, “Praise God” or “Thank you Jesus”? It appears that word continually would imply that is want it means, continually. So if we do offer sacrifices of praise in church and then go about grumbling about things, or life in general, our boss, our job, our house, our car, our clothes, our lack of money, or whatever else we seem to be a tad bit dissatisfied with during the week, we are in deep trouble, for we are being disobedient to God. We need to continually have His name upon our lips, and that only occurs with His name is continually upon our thoughts. If we are always thinking about ourselves, we cannot be thinking about Him, and therefore we will not praise His name at all times. This will also bring about our actions to be less self-orientated and then we just might be able to do some good and to share with others. Sometimes just keeping quiet and actually listening to others is doing this good. How many times are we hoping someone will stop talking about themselves so we can interject something about us? Are we thinking about us, or about bringing God a sacrifice of praise in doing good and sharing with others? Than do we stand up and tell how much good we have done, and how much we have shared with others? Do we lift ourselves up for our actions or do we keep silent or give praise to God? Do we tell others how good they will feel by doing good and sharing with others? By doing that we only feed their self-oriented greed for self-praise. It would appear we need to get us out of the way, and simply praise God in and for all things we have and do, and do that all day long every day of our lives. This will be pleasing God.

Follow Jesus

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

FOLLOW JESUS

Heb 13:11-14

11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

NIV

Is it not plain of the twofold message here? We are dreadfully incapable of entering into the presence of God without the blood of Jesus Christ, yet because of His blood we can boldly enter the most Holy of Holies, the stand in the presence of God. Yet the other message rings just as loud and clear. As Jesus died on the cross outside the city gates, we too must leave those city gates bearing the disgrace he bore. What does that mean? Because we know our new eternal home, the new city of Jerusalem is on its way to us. Because we know that Jesus told has told us that He went to prepare this place for us and that He will return to take us to that place. Because we know that our citizenship is in heaven and no longer in this world, we must leave these cities gates, and go outside the camp. Anything within the city, the world, is not enduring. Therefore it is of no value and we must be not only willing, but actually leave it behind. We cannot be bound to anything within the city for if we are, whatever it is, it will drag us back. If we are chained to our past, we cannot move into our future. The city is now our past, all our stuff, all our attitudes, all our thoughts and behaviors have to be left behind in the city for we must leave them, we have been unchained by the blood of Jesus Christ, and we must look forward to the city that is to come. Let us live outside the realm of the city, the world, the beliefs, the attitudes, and the lifestyles. Let us live outside the realm of the physical limits of this world, and enjoy the greater spiritual realm of the Kingdom of God. Those in the world might well look at us with distain and think we are fools for believing in God, for trusting God, for looking to God for all our needs, for living by faith, instead of by the strength of our own abilities. We might well disgraced by their standards for our faith in God, if in fact we actually live out our faith. But that is our calling, to leave the city, to follow Jesus. 

Simply Jesus

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

SIMPLY JESUS

Heb 13:9-10

9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them. 10 We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

NIV

We can be sure that in the course of the new church, there were men who wanted to bring alone the rules and regulations of the old Levitical laws and incorporate them into the Gospel of Christ. It is not much different today in the sense there are some who would what to add to the Gospel of Christ all sorts of rules and regulations which would seem reasonable since most of them are from the Levitical laws as well. However, it is not appropriate nor scriptural to add anything to the Gospel of Christ. Jesus Said that he made a new covenant and that He put away the old one, which is to say we cannot live the law of the old covenant but must live by the grace of the new. Why do some insist on dragging in rules and regulations in order to develop a list of do’s and don’ts to judge their level of spiritually and that of others by? It is of no value to have some ceremonial system of cleaning ourselves from the burden of sin. We have the grace of God to cleanse us from that burden. It is true that we must live a life which pleases God, in fact we are told to find out what pleases God. The greatest form of pleasing Him is to accept His Son as our Savior. Our life, at least in the human condition, is incapable if living without sin, and thus not able to please God. We can make up as many rules and regulations as we like which we could fulfill and think we are pleasing God by living according to these rules, but they have nothing to do with the Gospel of Grace. In addition, we have to acknowledge the simple fact God gave all those laws to His people to prove to them they needed Grace, that people needed Jesus. So why do we want to add them back in? Why do we insist they still apply to us today? Yes, yes, we need to live a moral upright life, serving our Lord in all we believe, think, and do. Yes, we need to live in a manner which serves our Lord. But there is no math which is correct that tries to add anything to Jesus. It is not Jesus plus. It is simply Jesus. 

Be Loud

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

BE LOUD

Heb 13:7-8
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 
NIV


Surely these leaders were the first disciples of Jesus, the apostles in fact, of which many were martyred by the rage of the Jewish leadership. The outcome of their life was death in the most horrible of ways because they refused to denounce Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the Son of God, and their salvation. Surely in our cultural we should not expect such barbaric treatment as believers in Christ. We certainly could expect a peaceful death surrounded by our love ones, celebrating our passing from this life into life everlasting in the presence of our Lord and Savior. But still at the same time we should imitate the faith of those men who died for their faith. We should live out all the days of our life exhibiting that kind of faith. Their trust was completely in Christ, not in any part of this world. We should dedicate ourselves to that kind of life, thinking only of Christ and being of service to Him who died for our sins to give us eternal life. What man on this earth has ever come close that kind of gift for us? What thing in the world could provide anything greater for us then Jesus Christ did? What He did for them, He did for us, as He never changes. His act of love for them, and for us, is also available to everyone that is to come, should He tarry in His second coming. As believers, life should not be about us, but about Jesus. We have to examine our lives and see how much time we spend in our own pursuits, our own desires, and our own self-interests verses the amount of time and energy we spend in the His pursuits, His desires, and His interests. In fact, we really have to examine whether we actually live by the same kind of faith as those men of old, or if we live a life of pseudo faith. If we actually mimic the kind of faith these men had, we would live in a way no one could ever have a doubt that we are Born Again believers In Jesus Christ. But if we live so similar of a lifestyle, with the same ambitions and goals of the unbelievers, striving for as much of this world’s goods as they can accumulate, how will they ever know what kind of faith we have? We need to live our faith out loud, not just in voice, but is every aspect of our life. Be loud!

No Fear

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

NO FEAR

Heb 13:6

6 So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"  

NIV

If God said, as we looked at before, that He would never leave us nor would He ever forsake us, then we can say with confidence what is said here. Why would there ever be any need for us to be afraid? It would appear that perhaps in some areas of the world believers surely would have a cause to be afraid, but why would we who live in America ever have a reason for fear? What could man ever do to us that would destroy our soul? Sure death in the physical sense is within the realm of human capacity. Humans are ever capable of torture causing a great amount of pain and suffering to our bodies. But this is merely a shell in which the real us reside, and man cannot do anything to disturb nor destroy the real us. God is always near; ready to help us in our hour of need. He will give us the strength to endure anything so we do not have to be afraid of any situation that we find ourselves in upon this world. Maybe someday in this country we might have to endure physical hardships for being a believer. It is true the in some sense the atheists have won some legal battles against God and thus us, but we still have the freedom to worship God in our desired way. It is true they endeavor to remove Him from all public life, but we still have the freedom within our private life. We might be subject to some ridicule from certain groups of people. We might have things said about us that would be attacks against our character, or our faith. Some people keep such a close watch on us that the first sign of any mistake, or weakness in our life, they make sure to point that out to us. We might even lose our jobs sometimes because of our belief, which is if we do not compromise the standards God established. But those are things man can do to us and they are not reasons to be afraid.  Our real enemy is he that wages war against our very soul, yet with God at our side, we can have the victory over this enemy as well. No, it is plain and very simple, we who believe need not fear for God is our helper. No fear!

Marriage

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

MARRIAGE

Heb 13:4-5

4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."  

NIV

It seems pretty self-explanatory about what we are supposed to do within the God ordained institution of marriage. Although within the context of the time of which this was written and the original language speaks of men being male prostitutes, or hired lovers, it still speaks to the sanctity of marriage. Surely many of us make mistakes in life, in all sorts of situations, and one sin is surely not any worse of better then another, so those of us who think we are free of this kind of error are better than those who have fallen prey to this temptation should soberly examine our own life. But having said that those of us who have fallen in this area of our lives know the pain and suffering it brings. But this is speaking of a perpetual lifestyle of dishonoring the marriage bed in a willful way. It is interesting though that this command it spoken in the same breathe with not being lovers of money, but being content with what we have due to the fact that God said he would never leave us nor forsake us. Could this marriage bed be that of us being the bride of Christ, and in a marriage contact with God? Could this be that the adultery is one who sells himself to the ways of the world for the sake of money? Could this be about being a prostitute to the world? Our devotion to God can be deferred for money is what is at stake here. Is this about honoring our relationship with God and keeping it pure, and not committing adultery with the world? Surely in the purely physical aspects of life, we are to keep our marriages pure, but how much greater is the harm to our souls if we do not keep our relationship with God pure, forsaking selling ourselves for money. So do we see this as the physical or the spiritual battle or perhaps both? Nevertheless we are to follow this advice with every effort possible. We need not look for satisfaction from these world pleasures, for God will never leave or forsake us. He is all we need. 

Seek First His Kingdom

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM

Heb 13:1-3

13:1 Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

NIV

Keep on assume we already do love each other as brothers, so we will leave it at that and make sure we keep on doing it. Now if we do not love each other as brothers, we might be a bit if a fix, so to speak. Of course that would also imply that we know what it means to love as brothers do. Perhaps that would be an interesting study someday, but in all reality we most likely already know and forget to do it sometimes, because we are so catch up in our own life. As far as entertaining strangers, that original would mean hospitality; it is used also by Paul to imply we should share with God’s people who are in need. The whole idea here is that we should not be so wrapped up in our own needs that we do not overlook the needs of others, both from the household of faith and those we have do not know. It is possible that when we meet a new person with a need, that person could, and may very well be an angel. Would that not be shooting ourselves in the foot, if we have an opportunity to help our, show hospitality to a person we just met and turned our backs on them? The same applies to those in prison and those who are suffering. Could we not say, “But for the grace of God, there go I”? Once again should we turn our backs, or offer our hand? If would appear if we offered our hand, we would be very busy doing this hospitality thing, and we would have very little time for the pursuit of our own agenda. Is it possible to do both? Can we be about our Father’s business and our own at the same time? Or is it possible that we can go about living our live as God directs and rather than going around looking to see who we can love, what stranger we can entertain, what prisoner we can have compassion for, and remember those who are suffering, when He directs our path across such people, we are open and fulfill His plan? It still boils down to always being open to the will of God and serving His kingdom first over the pursuit of selfish desires. Seek first His Kingdom.

No Turning Away

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

NO TURNING AWAY

Heb 12:25-13:1

25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."   27 The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken — that is, created things — so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our "God is a consuming fire."   NIV

Well there we have it, there isn't a single thing we know in the world that isn’t going to be completely shaken, the whole of all creation will shake, actually be destroyed because our God is a consuming fire. Now those people of old surely must have witnessed His power and yet they refused to listen and obey the voice of Moses, a man on earth and they did not escape, what will we do? We have a kingdom that is coming which will be so glorious that we dare not forget to listen to Him from heaven. We cannot allow the screaming of this world to overpower His still small voice who speaks to our hearts and minds. Everything in the world will vanish; it will be consumed by fire, so why do we cling on to all this stuff? Why do we spend so much of our time trying to accumulate as much of it as we can? Do we really think all the things of the world will bring us peace of mind? Do we really think we have any really security in the accumulation of wealth? What is wrong with us, why don’t we spend half the amount of time worshipping God with reverence and awe then we do worshipping our own lives? Do we not get it? We need to be so completely aware of the coming kingdom that our main focus of life is to serve our beloved Lord. We need to be about His business, building the Kingdom of God, sharing the Gospel, living our faith out loud, being ready at a moment’s notice to leave all this stuff behind and leap for joy at the coming of our King! The new city of Jerusalem will be so grand, so incredibly more then we can even imagine from John’s description. We dare not turn away because we are distracted by all the temptations of this world, not even a glance, for a glance becomes a stare and a stare becomes a desire and a desire becomes a quest and when that quest is done, we have fallen into the trap set by Satan. No turning away. 

Boldly Go

DEVOTION
HEBREWS
BOLDLY GO
Heb 12:18-24
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned."   21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."   
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 
NIV


What else can we say except, Praise God! Surely God still is as awesome, holy and powerful as He has also been and that we are so human in His presence. It is clear we cannot deal with the fear in the first part of this without seeing the wonderful love of the second part. Who of us would want to tremble with fear at the thought of being in the presence of God? Those people of old surely were given that image of God which caused fear. It is true that God does not change, and that He is still that same God, but He also has proved that He has another tract, another characteristic, or personality other than a God of wrath. It is also true that His justice must be satisfied and that there is no man, or beast that is capable of coming near to God without escaping that justice, for if any of us get close enough to touch his holy mountain we should be stoned. But because of the love of God He has satisfied His own justice. Jesus paid the price, and now our spirits have been made perfect. Now because of Jesus we can enter into the holy of holies, we can come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. We do not have to tremble in fear like Moses did. We can rejoice alone with the thousands upon thousands of angels. The old covenant has been replaced with a new covenant and fear has been replaced with love. The words men begged for no more of, we can be eager to hear all of them, for they do not bring death, but life, and life everlasting. So why did God treat those men of old with such wrath? Why didn’t He send Jesus sooner? Of course He was speaking directly to them, He was given them real and physical evidence of both His existence and His power. All they needed to know about God was plain to them, and yet they still were disobedient living more for self them for Him. Are we any different? So why did God decide when He would send Jesus? That is a question we cannot answer, but it sure is a blessing we do not live under the old covenant, for we would have to live in fear of God. Jesus is now our mediator of the new covenant and we can let go of fear, although we must always respect and be in reverent fear of God for He was, is and will always be God, the creator of all things made, including us. But He has satisfied His justice and we are safe in His presence, if fact we can boldly go where no man could go before, into the very throne room of God.

What Will We Do

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

WHAT WILL WE DO

Heb 12:16-17

16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.

NIV

This seems to be a most difficult statement to understand. Who of us is sexually immoral or godless that we should apply this to our own lives? But yet it would appear to follow in the pattern of the previous statement of seeing to it that no one misses the grace of God. Still the original language carries the concept of being a prostitute or profane person like Esau. What does that mean? Could it imply that some people are in the condition of prostituting themselves to the world? That in fact they have sold their birthright, their blessing from God, for the sake of material gain, worldly comfort, personal ambition or self-interest? Surely we would suspect the most of the ungodly, or the godless people of this world are in that category, as they too are children of God, or at very least among his creation, for He is the God of all creation and thus all people are really His, whether they what to admit it or not. Yet here again we are to see that no one is like Esau, we are to see that no one does prostitute themselves or sell their birthright for the comforts of this world. That would also include all of us in the household of faith. That does raise the question even about missing the grace of God as we saw before. We have a responsibility to each other, to all people to encourage them to stay focused on God, and not get distracted by the comforts this world has to offer, and to engage in any illicit affair with this world system at all. The question we have to ask is have we forsaken our intimate relationship with God for the wiles of this world? Do we desire stuff, more than God? A hard question requires true introspection. At the same time we seem to have the task of sharing this truth with those who are like Esau. If people look to the blessings of this world rather than from God, it appears rejection is in their future. No matter how they cry out, it will be of no avail, for their desire was for personal comfort first, and their birthright was second. What will we do?

See To It

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

SEE TO IT

Heb 12:15-16

15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

NIV

Just hold on a moment, isn’t that our pastor’s job? Why are we supposed to see to it that no one misses the grace of God? It sure looks like we are the ones who should be looking out for all the other people and seeing to it that we share the grace of God with them. That surely would mean that we have to talk to them about the Gospel message of Jesus Christ, telling them they need to repent and get saved. Well, we really do not have to tell them about repenting, or getting saved, we merely have to tell them about Jesus dying on the cross for their sins, right? But that is not all. It sure looks like we are also supposed to make sure that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Now how are we supposed to do that? Maybe if we lived like we were superior to others because we are saved and they are not, it might make them bitter toward us. Then again if we confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior but live just the same as the unbelievers do, they might develop a bitter attitude about religion which in turn would be directed toward God and thus they would be defiled. Living by faith is a good thing,  trusting in God is a wonderful way to live, gaining eternal life is a wonderful reward, and sharing this message is a responsibility we have to all people. Yes we need to speak up and tell the story, but we also have to live in manner would is consistent with the message we tell them. Hypocrisy will surely cause a bitter root to grow. This live we live in front of them is not about following a bunch of church rules and regulations, that is of no value to them at all, in fact that might cause the root of bitterness to grow up even more, but it is about living a life of love, showing them the love of Jesus at work in us toward them. We need to be the most reliable, trust worthy, loving and caring person they know. Jesus died for us; can we not give ourselves for them? Is that not showing them the grace of God at work in a real way? Simply said, we have to see to it.

Hold Nothing Back

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

HOLD NOTHING BACK

Heb 12:14

14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

NIV

Make some effort, make a little effort, make quite a bit effort, make as much effort as you are able, no, wait that says make every effort. We cannot simply make a partial effort, or only when it is convenient, we are told to make every effort to live in peace will some people, no wait that say all people and then it says to be holy. But let’s just focus for now on this every effort thing. This is going to require a lot, whole lot of putting self aside. Selfishness may be the one and only motive that keeps us from making every effort to live in peace with all people. Then there are those few individuals which simply grate on us the wrong way, those who are so irritating, so arrogant, so boastful and just plain rude that it is nearly impossible to be at peace with them, so it is alright to exclude them from the all when we figure up how many that means. This making every effort to live in peace with all men is not as easy as it sounds, but it is what we are to do, and then tack on being holy, and are we noticing the warning about being holy? Without Holiness not one of us will see the Lord. Now of course we all know that we cannot have within us any holiness of our own, but is it the holiness of Christ that is referred to here. Jesus, himself, said that no man comes unto the Father except through Him. The only way we can see the Lord is being in Christ. That is the being holy, for God makes us holy. Yet this Greek word used here which is translated holiness carries the meaning of consecration, which is a solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. It literally means “To associate with the sacred”. This is the action, the attitude of our heart toward God. We must be dedication to His service. That would require us thinking that our purpose is to serve God and how could we benefit His kingdom rather than always looking for ways that He would benefit us. We would be asking how we can give to Him instead of always asking for things from Him. If all we think is that God is our provider, our own personal genie in the bottle that we can call out anytime we need something, then maybe, just maybe we may not get to see Him. This whole thing here is about putting self aside to the purpose of doing what God desires. Being a believer is so much better than being a self-centered individual. Let us make every effort, put is all in, give it every last bit of effort we have, hold nothing back. 

Be Healed

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

BE HEALED

Heb 12:12-13

12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

NIV

Sometimes after enduring hardship for an extended time, whether that is from our own fault or as in the form of discipline from God, we can become exhausted, worn out, discouraged and even to the point of giving up. We may think when is it going to end, I cannot take anymore, but here we are encouraged to buck up, strengthen our feeble arms and weak knees, as their say, take it like a man. If the hardship we are enduring is due to the discipline of the Lord than there is a purpose, a plan, a divine plan for the betterment of our life as so we need to see that in order we do not become lame, but rather we are healed. Now if our hardship is due to our own fault, as from a bad decision, a bad choice or some other reason that is due to our action or inaction than we still need to make level paths for our feet, correct the mistake so we will not be lame or crippled in our life, but rather we will be healed. If we refuse the correction from God through the form of discipline that may in fact bring some form of hardship into our life, then we will be lame, we will be crippled both in the physical and in the spiritual. But is we see the purpose of the correction, that is we acknowledge our sin, our disobedience and understand His corrective action in our life, we will make straight, make level our path and walk tall, learning from the experience thus being healed from the dreadful disease we were so inflicted with. For some it may be far easier to fall under the hardship, than to strengthen ourselves in the midst of it, but the right course of action is to renew our faith in God, see what He is doing and make the level path, make the needed change and be healed, be whole, be at peak performance as one of His children, one of His Christian soldiers. As the song writer wrote, “Onward Christian soldier”  we need to move on, accept the training, and “Be the best we can be”.   Be Healed.

Change

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

CHANGE

Heb 12:7-11

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

NIV

Not sure what kind of discipline we are talking about here. Not sure if we who live in America have even had to endure hardship. Although there may be some people who are enduring a form of hardship as far as not having a job, being unable to find a way to support themselves and their family, their bills are mounting up, credit card debt is over the top, and hope is being lost. There are others who have gone through very difficult relationships, abuse, divorce, having to see the hurt in their children’s faces. There are hardships that some encounter, but can we say there are the result of God’s discipline? Although surely God does bear responsibility for our spiritual welfare and thus disciplines, trains us in His ways for our own spiritual well-being. The Greek word here used as discipline is defined as train up a child, educate, by implication, discipline using punishment as a means to the end. How can we tell if any hardship that we encounter, is just a result of life, or God’s discipline? It would seem right to consider if the hardship will bring about an opportunity for spiritual growth and maturity. We could look to see if a hardship will bring us closer to righteousness and peace. It would make sense if we do encounter a hardship, whatever form it comes in, that we must get our eyes off of our own suffering and look to assist others that are affected by our hardship, this would produce the desired result God is looking for. Do we wallow in our own self-pity when we are in the midst of a hardship that is the result of God’s discipline? Or do we buck up and learn from it and grow in our understanding of what God is doing and why?  Again, we may not truly understand real hardship, as some in other parts of the world are enduring, but when some form of hardship comes our way, we must examine it and determine is God at work in our lives, or is it a result of our own actions or inactions? If it is our own fault we can change it, if it is God’s discipline we can change us. In most cases, many people do not accept change very well, but if God is the reason, then change we must. 

Struggle

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

STRUGGLE

Heb 12:4-6

4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."  

NIV

Surely Jesus was resisting the temptation of not going to the cross when he was in the garden, for he sweat great drops of blood. But does this mean we should also resist sin with that kind of determination? Or within the context does this mean that we have not yet been called to give our life for our testimony of the truth? If we are sons of God than perhaps we should start acting as sons. That is to say we need to stand up for what is true, we should resist evil at every turn, both the evil that is within us and that which is opposed to us. Surely this struggle against sin could imply the sin that resides within each of us, but it also could imply the sin that is in the world which opposes the truth of God. Both these sins were the cause for the shedding of blood by Jesus on the cross. He was killed for His testimony of the truth, but He gave His live for the sin that is within us. Here we need to resist sin, our and theirs with every ounce of effort we can. We must put to death the sin that reside within with as much determination as Jesus had in the garden. All too often we give in to the sin within without even a struggle. We lose our temper, we speak ill-conceived words out of selfish concerns, we see ourselves as better than we ought to, thinking we live a good Christian life, when in fact we are sinners save by grace. We give in to silence, not wanting to stand our ground against the wayward acts of disobedience we see around us. Are we making light the Lord’s discipline here? Are this words about struggling against sin a rebuke? Is God training, educating us through a form of heavy handed punishment? The fact is we need to give up this acceptance of sin, making excuses for our own sinful ways, as well as stand up, speak up against the sin which so easily entangles us. The sin of the world, yes we need to tell people they are sinners, and God opposes they prideful arrogant disobedience. Jesus died speaking the truth, are we afraid to do the same? Let us speak the truth to both ourselves and to others, let us struggle.

Unceasing Stare

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

UNCEASING STARE

Heb 12:2-3

2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

NIV

There is more about these ideas which follows, but let us simply deal with the incredible statement here, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus”. Do we have more faith or maybe not faith but trust in the things we can see with our physical eyes than we do what we can only see with our spiritual eyes? Do we fret over having a job because we trust that employer to provide us with money? Do we concern ourselves with the future portion of our lives, trying our best to store up wealth for those years ahead? Do we think we can be a better Christian if we abide by all the church rules and regulations? Have we fixed our eyes on our self-ambitions, our goals, our desires and our needs instead on what we are commanded to do? We need to fix our eyes on Jesus. This means we must run the race that has been set out before us. We must follow the course of action God desires for us so that we may be a benefit to the Kingdom of God rather than looking to see how the Kingdom of God can benefit us. Jesus went to the cross for the benefit of the Kingdom of God. Yes, it is true He died for our sins, but does that not benefit the Kingdom of God. Because of Jesus we are now a member, a citizen of the Kingdom of God, it has become greater, bigger, stronger, and God has restored us to our rightful place in His kingdom. He is Master and we are His servants, and the servants only serve to benefit the master, not themselves. For the most part too many teach what God does for us which encourages a very self-orientated near-sighted view of life. But if we fix our eyes on Jesus, we must be able to see we are to serve the Kingdom of God, we are to view ourselves as His. If we do that we will not lose heart no matter the physical circumstances we find ourselves in here in the life. Our goal, the race we run is not one of self-interest, but a race for the Kingdom of God. Fixing our eyes on Jesus allows us to focus on the truth, the true future, the true finish line. We should consider fixing does not mean an occasional glance, but an unceasing stare.