Be Careful

Read Hebrews 1-6:13
 
Hebrews 3:12-14 Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. 14 For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.
 
LIFE is a challenge. Be careful and be alert. Help each other stay true to God. Share in his victory as you live eternally with Jesus.
   That is the essential message the unknown Hebrews author gives to us. People in the early church needed to hear these words because they dealt with many physical and verbal assaults on their new belief. The same remains true for us today. These are also words also teach us.
   Hebrews and the other epistles were written to defend against assaults from outside and inside the church. This Scripture strengthens us for each day’s battle. The culture wants us to believe that seeking and obeying God is foolishness, rooted in our weaknesses. Sometimes our own faith can ask, “Am I really sure of God’s gracious gospel?”
   After the first glow of salvation, real life can weaken our joy. Our own pride may cause us to neglect or even disdain spiritual disciplines. We may not see sin’s great abuse to oppose our journey in God’s love. Or a casual approach to God’s holiness can weaken our desire to be more holy as he is holy. (1 Peter 1:15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.) To see God as less than he is will negate his authority. When we do that, we open our lives to temptation. These are some weapons our sin nature uses to assault our faith.
   Be alert. Cancel the assaults with God’s holy Word. It is all you need to live joyfully with Jesus.
 
A King Who Knows Struggles
 
Hebrews 4:14-17 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
 
ONE who desires to play a piano well will seek an instructor who knows the piano and knows how to teach the art of playing. A student doesn’t pay for lessons from a person with little knowledge or passion for piano. It would be a waste of time and money to learn from a less than average instructor. To play the best music possible, one must begin with the best instructor available. The best instructors usually have learned to overcome failure and disappointment to become a better musician and teacher.
   All of us who truly want to learn, desire to learn from someone who knows the topic extremely well. We appreciate one who has experienced difficulty and knows the victory that comes with persevering through doubts and disappointments.
   Jesus is the most exceptional King of all time. What other king has even lived in difficulty? Very few. Many earthly kings have grown up far away from the difficulties their subjects experienced. Even more, what King has suffered, died and risen again? None.
   You can trust the King who has overcome the cross and the tomb. No issue is too much for him. All temporary defeats in life are transformed to total victory in Jesus Christ.