Category: Morning Musings

Morning Musing: Hebrews 13:1-3

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“Let brotherly love continue. Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it. Remember those in prison, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

At last we come to the big finish. After twelve chapters and seven months, we are at long last on the final stretch of this incredible letter. With all of his main points now made rather thoroughly, the author closes things out with a kind of lightning round of miscellaneous advice and commands. There really isn’t a consistent theme to any of these, but there is deep wisdom in them all the same. He starts here with the rather appropriate exhortation to love, given how rooted in love is the new covenant. Let’s talk this morning about love in action.

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Morning Musing: Matthew 19:21

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“‘If you want to be perfect,’ Jesus said to him, ‘go, sell your belongings and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When Jesus was in Jerusalem ahead of His final week on earth, there was a moment when a bunch of children came up and were shouting praises to Jesus. In a culture when children were expected to be seen and not heard, this was a pretty significant break with tradition, so naturally, the Pharisees fussed about it to Jesus. He responded by quoting a line from Psalm 8:2 praising children for spouting of divine wisdom. “Out of the mouths of babes,” Well, I had an out-of-the-mouths-of-babes moment this week. If you’ll indulge me this morning, I’d like to tell you about it.

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Morning Musing: Hebrews 12:25-29

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“See to it that you do not reject the one who speaks. For if they did not escape when they rejected him who warned them on earth, even less will we if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven. His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ This expression, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that what is not shaken might remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been in an earthquake? The answer to that probably depends on where you live, just like it does with about any other natural disaster. Different areas are prone to different kinds of disasters. I never thought I lived in an earthquake-prone region until I was sitting at my desk a few years ago and everything suddenly started shaking. It wasn’t a big earthquake (at least, we were far enough from the epicenter that we didn’t shake too much where we were), but it was an eerie moment. The world was moving, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. As we come to the end of chapter 12 today, the author is talking about another shaking that’s coming. But this one will be a bit bigger than what I experienced. Let’s talk about God’s shaking things up and the hope we have in His kingdom.

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Morning Musing: Hebrews 12:14

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“Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness  — without it no one will see the Lord.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been in mid-thought only to say something that triggers another thought, but this new thought is so overwhelming that you have to stop and address it? As we get into the last major teaching section of Hebrews before the author’s lightning round big finish, that’s exactly what seems to happen. This thought of his is something that’s gotten into my own head and heart and I can’t stop thinking about it. Let’s talk this morning about his thought and why it matters so much.

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Morning Musing: Hebrews 12:9-10

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“Furthermore, we had human fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but he does it for our benefit, so that we can share his holiness.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

What is wrong with us? That’s a nice, big question to start off the day. It’s also a question with a list of potential answers that would need a whole series of books to answer in a manner that is even remotely adequate. Still, there are perhaps a few things we could point to as particularly acute problems whose effects can be traced to a fairly wide swath of our culture’s current list of troubles. One of these is a lack of committed, involved fathers. Fatherlessness is a terrible blight on our society. It lies at the root of just nearly every social malady sociologists measure. With all of the language and illustrations of God using fatherhood as their starting point we find in the Scriptures, our culture’s lack of fathers also makes passages like this one harder for many folks to understand and appreciate than perhaps they should be. Let’s dig in a bit this morning and see if we can make some sense of what the author of Hebrews is saying here.

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