Hebrews
3:1
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the
Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2
who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all
His house. 3 For this One
has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the
house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all
things is God. 5 And Moses
indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those
things which would be spoken afterward, 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are
if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. 7
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as in the
rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works
forty years. 10 Therefore
I was angry with that generation, And said, 'They always go astray in their
heart, And they have not known My ways.' 11 So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'
" 12
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in
departing from the living God…
God is inviting everyone everywhere to enter His “rest.”
There are lots of ways we could probably think about exactly what
that “rest” is.
It could be a certainty of God’s power always present in the life
of the believer so they know they have no need to strive to accomplish anything
for the Lord. It could be a confidence in His creation power capable of bringing
healing in physical sickness and in relationships. It could be His ability to
direct the heart of the king like rivers of water so we no longer have to worry
about government being anything more than an extension of God’s will.
It can be all of those things and more. It starts at the beginning: “In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth.” Believe that and the “rest” is easy.
I can rest in the
knowledge of how good God is because
I see how good His use of power has always been.
His power has always been used for good in the midst of an evil world in which
Satan has been provided latitude for degradation to bring us all to the place
where we are allowed to make an obvious choice: Good? Or evil?
That people choose evil is undeniable. The question is: Why? An even greater question may be: Why would anyone choose evil after having
seen how good God is? And this is
the question the author of Hebrews poses in chapter 3.
The answer to both those questions is the loss of long-term focus
brought about by the distraction of an immediate situation. Facing impossible
odds. Hunger for present reward. Fear of failure. Any of those. All of those.
Satan is a master of distraction. We so easily forget God’s story. For God so LOVED the world…
We choose what we see
that will be lost over what we cannot see that cannot be lost. And so we refuse
to enter His rest, because we forget how good God is.
- Pastor Bill
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