Bible Diary - Hebrews 3:12-19
June 1, 2008
R.C. Sproul makes the point that no one can “decide” to have faith, but that we can to decide on our response to faith, that is, our behavior. I think Paul’s exhortation in this passage is about just such a response.
3:12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes the living God. 3:13 But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception. 3:14 For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence firm until the end. 3:15 As it says, “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 3:16 For which ones heard and rebelled? Was it not all who came out of Egypt under Moses’ leadership? 3:17 And against whom was God provoked for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? 3:18 And to whom did he swear they would never enter into his rest, except those who were disobedient? 3:19 So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.
When is “today?” I believe most would say that it is the continuum of time from the Incarnation of God to Jesus’ return. I am called to continually listen to the voice of Jesus in Scripture and heed what He says. Since nothing seems to come easy in the Christian life, I need to be aware that many in the godless society in which I live are doing everything possible to divert my attention from the source of truth, Jesus the Christ. If I succumb to cultural evils, which would be a slam dunk if it weren’t for the Spirit of God, I risk a hardened heart that might fatally provoke God.
God is faithful and has given me the desire to know Him better and to serve Him. What I do or don’t do with that desire is up to me.
Dave, experiencing a little fear and trembling.
-sdg-
Comments
Got something to say?
