Tag: Hebrews

Morning Musing: Hebrews 12:7-8

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Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline – which all receive – then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We live in a culture that hates feeling bad. We don’t ever want to feel badly…about anything. More than that, we don’t want to make someone else feel bad. Well, that’s not totally true. We don’t want to make someone else feel bad when our name and reputation are attached to it. We’re happy to make people feel bad on social media where we usually feel safely anonymous all the time, but that’s a separate issue. And living like this in the abstract sounds really good (it’s not, of course, but it sounds like it). But when you take this kind of cultural movement and bring it into the world of parenting, you are going to run into problems sooner or later because parenting is the art of making kids feel bad at the right time, in the right ways, and the right amounts. And God is a good parent. Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Hebrews 12:3-6

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“For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won’t grow weary and give up. In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: ‘My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him, for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives.'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you heard the story of Nicholas Vujicic? He is an Australian man who was born with a rare genetic disorder called tetra-amelia syndrome. TAS results in children being born without arms or legs. While it would be totally understandable for someone like Nicholas to live an angry, bitter life, instead, driven by his faith in Christ and a calling to share the Gospel, he travels the globe as a popular motivational speaker, using his hard situation to encourage others to make the most out of their circumstances whatever they happen to be. There’s just something about people overcoming incredibly hard circumstances that can inspire us to persevere in our own. Let’s talk about what Jesus endured and how that can encourage us in our own efforts at faithfulness.

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Morning Musing: Hebrews 12:1-2

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“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

My oldest boys are running cross country this fall. Personally, I have enjoyed it immensely. It has been a nice, little nostalgia-fest for me of my own days running cross country. One of the things that was really emphasized when I was running was the importance of running light. Our shirts were made from the lightest material they could find. Our racing shorts were so short they barely covered our backside. And the best runners (a group that never included me) would pay huge prices for shoes that were as light as a feather. The goal was to eliminate anything that might slow you down because even fractions of a second could make a difference in a big race. As we turn the page at last on chapter 11, we find our author borrowing an illustration from the world of running to offer an encouragement in pursuing the life of faith. Let’s take a look at this with him.

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Morning Musing: Hebrews 11:39-40

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“All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

At the end of the day, faith and sight are not the same thing. If we have sight, we don’t have to exercise any faith. Once I am sitting in a chair, I don’t have to have faith it will hold me like I do before I sit down. I know it will because I am experiencing it. I can “see” it with my own eyes. Here at the tail end of Hebrews 11, the author gives us one last reminder of this truth before setting things up for where we are going next. Let’s talk one last time about living by faith and two reasons we should do it.

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Morning Musing: Hebrews 11:35b-38

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“Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Sometimes when we step out and exercise faith in God, everything goes great. In fact, it goes better than great. We get not just what we wanted, but far more than we could ever ask or imagine. Those kinds of outcomes to our faith are the stories we like to tell. Many of the stories in the Scriptures have these kinds of happy endings. Every story of faith Hollywood tells ends this way. At some point it may look like things are going to go poorly because of faith, but then God saves the day, and they all live happily ever after. But what if things don’t turn out that way? Because in real life, sometimes they don’t. The second set of stories of the results of faith the author of Hebrews shares with us aren’t happy endings. At least they don’t seem to be. Maybe you have a story of faith that didn’t appear to end well. Let’s talk about when we have faith and nothing goes according to plan.

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