Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13.

I want to write about a couple of different elements in today’s passage, but I am not sure that what I write will link together.  At the beginning of today’s passage the writer tells us to focus our attention on imitating Jesus.  In doing so we will face opposition from those who refuse to accept righteousness, we should follow Jesus’ example and struggle against sin.  We should be willing to remain faithful even up to the point of facing death, just as Jesus did.  The hardships we face are God disciplining us as a father disciplines his son in order to develop his son into a better person.  God applies such discipline because He loves us, facing hardship provides us with evidence of God’s love.  Part of that struggle is striving to live in peace with everyone.  Interestingly, the writer links doing everything we can to live at peace with others to being holy.  As if we cannot be holy if we don’t do whatever is in our power to live at peace with others.  Of course, that link also creates a limit on what the writer thinks we should do in order to live at peace with others.  In particular, he does not, and tells us that God does not, expect us to do anything which is not holy in order to live at peace with others.  Which brings me to another thought: the areas where we fail at being holy are the areas where we fail to live at peace with others.  The final piece to focusing on Jesus, which will lead us to strive to be at peace with others and to be holy, is showing hospitality to strangers.  The writer reminds us that we never know what blessings we might receive when we show hospitality to strangers and we should be careful to never pass up such blessings.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 6-9.

When the writer of this book writes about Melchizedek people often get caught up in the details about the Melchizedek mentioned in Genesis.  The writer is describing the symbolism of Melchizedek.  When he writes that Melchizedek does not have parents, I do not think that he believed that the lack of Melchizedek’s parents being mentioned in Genesis necessarily meant that Melchizedek did not have parents.  Rather, he was using the fact that no genealogy was given for Melchizedek as a metaphor for Jesus’ lack of pedigree to be a priest.  The point of the writer noting that Melchizedek has no genealogy is not that Melchizedek was a figure whose existence was miraculous.  The point the writer is making is that Melchizedek’s priesthood did not rely on his genealogy, unlike the priests who were in the order of Aaron.  The writer does not talk about Melchizedek to reveal something to us about Melchizedek.  Instead he uses Melchizedek to illustrate the perfection of Jesus and His ministry.  Jesus is holy and blameless which means that He is able to save us for eternity by His sacrifice.  Further, He continues to intercede for us with no chance that death will interrupt Him in that task.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 1-5.

I am not sure that where I am going with today’s blog accurately reflects the message which the writer intended to convey, but I do believe it is a biblical thought.  The writer writes “See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ”  As I initially read that, the writer is telling us to be careful that we do not rebel against God.  However, the next sentence after the one I quoted reads, “encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. ”  Which suggests to me that the writer is telling us to encourage and build up our fellow believers in order to assist them in resisting temptation.  The writer says a lot about the failure of those who rebelled to obey God’s instructions, but he also tells us that those who rebelled did so because they did not share the faith of those who did obey.  So, let me write out my take aways from this passage:  When God instructs us we must listen and obey, but our obedience will grow out our belief and trust that God has saved us.  Further, we need to build up and encourage the faith of those around us so that they do not fall short of what God desires for them.  We are each responsible for our own actions, but we should seek to take responsibility for helping others do good as well.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13.

The writer tells us that hardship and suffering come into our lives as discipline from God.  The way I read this passage the writer is using discipline with both of its two possible understandings.  Under the first understanding, discipline means negative consequences in order to change bad behavior to good behavior.  In the second understanding, discipline means working hard in order to achieve greater things.  So, God disciplines us so as to help us learn to not do things which bring us bad results.  But He also disciplines us to make us stronger and better at doing good things, just as an athlete applies discipline in their training routine in order to get better at their sport.  As we face hardship and suffering let us embrace them as the means by which God both teaches us to avoid sin, which brings us harm, and strengthens us so that we may do good works with ever greater effect.  Such discipline is evidence that we are indeed God’s children.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 10-11.

After writing in yesterday’s passage that he wanted to address more mature matters, the author tells us that we should continue meeting together with our fellow believers.  He suggests that some have given up on meeting with other believers, the phrasing suggests that they found such meetings counterproductive.  Perhaps because the people who were there were argumentative.  The writer tells us that we should be seeking how we can prod each other to be more loving and to do more good deeds.  If we follow the writer’s advice, we should act as a counter to those who choose to be argumentative.  Further, he tells us to encourage one another.  Another activity which is runs counter to being argumentative.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 6-9.

With this passage the writer gets into some advanced theology and doctrine, something for which we should all strive to be ready to study.  The first of those advanced topics about which the writer speaks is what happens when one who accepts Christ turns away from Him.  The writer tells us that those who turn away from God after experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit will never turn back to Him.  I have thought about this quite a bit, because I know several people who had an experience with God in their teens, fell away in their 20s, then later returned and became fervent followers once more.  On the other hand, I know a few people who followed a similar path, but never turned back to God (I have also read stories about a few more).  Looking at what I know about these people I think I see the difference.  The latter all seemed to have rejected God because they did not want to be subordinate to anyone, not even God.  While the former more or less lost their faith because of poor support systems when they faced troubles or hardship, coming back to God when the Spirit brought revelation into their lives.  Every time I read this passage I try to think through this difference and figure out how to explain it.  Unfortunately, I always feel like I cannot quite make it clear.  I guess the key difference is that people who lose their faith, who drift away from God because they stop believing that He exists, can turn back to Him, but those who know God exists but reject Him anyway will not.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 1-5.

Because those He wished to aid were flesh and blood, Jesus also became flesh and blood human.  Since He was flesh and blood as we are Jesus was tempted as we are.  And since He suffered temptation as we do, He is able to help us when we are tempted.  Therefore we should fix out thoughts on Him, listening to Him as He builds us into the House in which He will dwell.  Having laid out the reason why we should focus our thoughts on Jesus, the writer goes on to warn us against turning away from God.  Further, he tells us that we should encourage our fellow Believers in their faith so that their hearts, and our hearts, may not be hardened against God by sin.  Which brings me to one final point I want to make about today’s passage.  The writer tells us of the importance of studying the Scripture.  Often times we will struggle with understanding what a particular passage has to tell us (and the Book of Hebrews certainly ranks high among those where we will struggle).  However, just as an athlete needs to train their body by repeated exercise, so we must train our minds and spirits by repeated study of Scripture.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13.

When the writer tells us that when we experience hardship we should view it as discipline from God, he is not telling us to look at it as punishment for doing wrong.  Rather, we should view it as an action which  strengthens our ability to do God’s will.  For example, a coach will have his players run laps in order to build up their discipline with no connection to anything they did wrong.  In the same way, God sometimes allows us to go through hardship to develop the discipline to live a godly life.  The writer tells us to strengthen our feeble arms and our weak knees so that the lame may be healed.  I am not sure what he is trying to say there, but he goes on to tell us to strive to live in peace with everyone and to be holy.  Then the writer tells us what it means to be holy: love one another, show hospitality to strangers, remember those in prison and those being mistreated, and be content with what you have.  The writer then gives us two quotes from the Old Testament which should give us all confidence and courage:

God will never leave us, nor will He forsake us

The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?

If we hold these two things close we will not fear, no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Hebrews 10-11.

The writer of this letter tells us that our salvation comes from faith, just as Paul did in his letters.  He also tells us that faith has two elements.  If we have faith, we will be confident that our hopes will come to be and assured about things which cannot be seen.  He then goes on to write about many Old Testament characters who exhibited their faith by taking actions, some of whom were rewarded in this life for their faith, but many of whom experienced only suffering.  He gives us example after example of people who accomplished more than one would expect a mere human to be able to do.  He, also, gives us examples of people who refused to stop testifying to the power of God in the face of suffering and even death.  All of these examples the writer cites could have chosen to live as citizens of a country in this world, but instead they chose to live as citizens of the Kingdom of God, which had not yet appeared.  Let us choose to follow their example and live lives of faith.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.