Today we focused on Hebrews 3:12-14
“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” Hebrews 3:12-14
Our goal as a family has been to study out in depth what the early church looked liked as described in the Scriptures. Each day we examine a passage that tells us more about how often they met together, what their relationships looked like with one another and how they spent their time together.
Today we read all of chapter 3, because it is always best to have context for Scriptures, but we focused on the two verses above. What I saw in these verses is how much we need each other in our lives daily. We are called to exhort one another daily so that we will not be deceived. Jeremiah 17:9 teaches us, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Our hearts deceive us. We see this over and over in the Scriptures. “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” 1 Corinthians 10:12 We need each other as mirrors to reflect the truth about who we are and how we are doing in our obedience to Christ, lest we be deceived and grow so hardened that we eventually lose faith and fall away from the living God.
The example given further on in Chapter three, is that of the Jews who fled Egypt in the Exodus only two actually made it to the promised land, even though thousands of them had witnessed the miracles of God first hand. Instead of helping each other stand strong through trials and hardships, they grumbled and complained and longed to return to the old way of life. In short, they forgot what they came from and they didn’t trust God’s leading and promises.
I think it is somewhat funny that even though it is clearly stated above that we should be deeply involved in each other’s lives on a daily basis, it goes further to emphasize this point by saying, “as long as it is called ‘today.’ Basically, it is saying, uhmmm…. guys, just in case you didn’t fully understand that you should have these relationships daily, well, understand that you should DO IT WHENEVER IT IS CALLED ‘TODAY.’
So, “today,” please know that I am grateful for each of you and am praying that you are cultivating these types of open, deep, caringrelationships with those who belong to the family of God. “Solo”-christians are not a part of God’s plan. We were made to be part of a caring and involved family.
Tomorrow our family will read in Hebrews 10, emphasis on verses:24-25 if you would like to follow along.