Christian living – Page 62

Morning Musing: Hebrews 6:11-12

June 30, 2022June 30, 2022Leave a comment

“Now we desire each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the full assurance of your hope until the end, so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When I was growing up, one of my heroes was Jacques Vaughn. Vaughn was the point guard for the University of Kansas Jayhawks basketball team. The fact that he was 19 or 20 really didn’t register for me. I wanted to be like him. He was a tremendous player, but he was also a great student and by most accounts I ever heard a good person. I still remember a play when he was going for a contested layup, faked a pass behind his back as he closed in on the basket which the defender completely fell for, and cleared his own way for an easy score. I had his picture taped on the front of my school folder and had memorized his signature. Having heroes like that can be a very good thing. They motivate us to become more than we are right now. And Vaughn did that for me. I became more like him…as far as being a good student goes; I was terrible at basketball. As the writer of Hebrews finishes up this warning section, he concludes with an encouragement to find some heroes. Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Hebrews 6:9-10

June 29, 2022June 29, 2022Leave a comment

“Even though we are speaking this way, dearly loved friends, in your case we are confident of things that are better and that pertain to salvation. For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you demonstrated for his name by serving the saints — and by continuing to serve them.”
— ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭6:9-10‬‬

Forgetting is hard. Now, maybe your memory works like mine, and you’re a little skeptical of that statement. After all, I forget things all the time…just ask my wife. I am getting better, though. But that’s not what I mean. It’s hard to forget things that are done to and for you. On the “to” side this can be a challenge since we are better off forgetting some of the things that are done to us. But remembering things done for us can be a great benefit because of the gratitude it develops in our hearts. As much as we struggle with forgetting, God doesn’t forget either. Let’s talk this morning about why that can be a very good thing.

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Morning Musing: Hebrews 6:9-10

June 29, 2022Leave a comment

Forgetting is hard. Now, maybe your memory works like mine, and you’re a little skeptical of that statement. After all, I forget things all the time…just ask my wife. I am getting better, though. But that’s not what I mean. It’s hard to forget things that are done too and for you. On the “to” side this can be a challenge since we are better off forgetting some of the things that are done to us. But remember things done for us can be a great benefit because of the gratitude it develops in our hearts. As much as we struggle with forgetting, God doesn’t forget either. Let’s talk this morning about why that can be a very good thing.

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Digging in Deeper: Hebrews 6:4-8

June 28, 2022June 28, 20221 Comment

“For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away. This is because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding him up to contempt. For the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it and that produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and at the end will be burned.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

There is a school in my district that is a choice school. What this means is that anyone can go to it in the whole district. It has an application process, and they don’t have to accept everyone who applies, but it technically has an open enrollment to any students whose parents are interested in their experiencing the unique educational approach it offers. This sounds great, but there’s a catch. If you choose to go to the school and then choose to leave the school, you can’t come back. If you have tasted what the school has to offer and choose to go back to your regularly-districted school, that’s it. You won’t be able to come back for a second round. In one of the most uncomfortable passages of Scripture in the entire New Testament, the author of Hebrews says the Christian faith is kind of like that. Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Hebrews 6:1-3

June 23, 2022June 23, 2022Leave a comment

“Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God, teaching about ritual washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And we will do this if God permits.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Living things grow. All of them. If there is something that is living, that something is growing. Now, what growth looks like isn’t the same for every living thing. Our oldest has grown something like eight inches in the last eighteen months (we’re taking up a collection for clothes and shoes…). His growth has been hard to miss. I haven’t gained an inch of height in decades (although I have gained a bit about the midsection). My growth looks different from his. But we’re both living and so we’re both growing. As the author of Hebrews begins a section that is perhaps the most infamously uncomfortable of the whole letter, he continues the argument we looked at yesterday that a living faith must be a growing faith. Let’s start here and then next week we’ll continue working through these challenging verses together.

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