Live Accordingly

 DEVOTION

TO HEBREWS

LIVE ACCORDINGLY

Heb 6:1-3

6:1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so.

NIV

There are some fundamental beliefs we believers hold to, although we still have discussions regarding some of these mentioned by the author of this letter. It would be good for us to examine each of these, but the author will do that for us as we proceed through the letter. However, let us remind ourselves of these basic truths. First, we know we have left the life that led to death because we disobeyed God, although we were ignorant of the truths of God, acting purely on our evil nature. Having found Jesus or rather having Jesus intervene in our lives, and reveal himself to us, changing the course of our lives from the road to death to the road that leads to life. Now we live having faith in God. We have put our lives in the hands of God, accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savoir. We know the truth of baptism and how it is an act of following Jesus and is usually used as a public sign of our confession of faith, although we think the church added that usual part. When Jesus was baptized, he did not make a public confession of his faith in himself, but the Father did declare publicly Jesus was his Son whom he loved, and the Spirit descended upon Jesus. So then if we are truly following Jesus in baptism, we would think God and the Spirit would have the major role, rather than our feeble voice. However, it is always good to declare our faith in Jesus publicly, rather than just among other believers, while we are being baptized. As far as this laying on of hands, the denominations we are familiar with have forsaken this truth. We do, on occasion ask for those who need to be anointed with oil to come and at least we do anoint with the sign of a cross on their forehands, but that is not the laying on our hands as the scripture is speaking of. We have experienced this on occasion, as when we send forth someone on a special task, or journey when we ask the congregation to come forward and lay hands on them as we pray for them. We have seen this done in a former church we belonged to, but it seems to have gone away. When it comes to the resurrection, we believe all of us have a sound understanding that we will experience this at some time in the future and that all people, both good and bad, will stand before God for judgment. However, there may be some misinformation about what we are judged for. We believe we are not judged for either our sins or our good deeds, but strictly on the fact of our faith in Jesus. Jesus is the Lamb of God, and we are considered the sheep or lambs of God because we are in Jesus. We will,  as we are now, be seen by God as holy and blameless, and thus we will enter into His rest. Those who refused to accept Jesus will be judged solely on that fact alone and will be cast out not being allowed to enter His rest, and that judgment will last for eternity. Let us always live aware of the truth of God, and live accordingly.