“God’s promise of entering His rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it.” (Hebrews 4:1 NLT)
Warnings are given throughout the Bible that emphasize at least two very important considerations. First, that God loves us and has done for us in and through Jesus, things that we could never in eternity ever do for ourselves. But secondly, what we stand to miss isn’t only what He’s done, but why He did it in the first place, and what’s available to us right now, in this specific point in time, that we dare not miss.
The gift of life that Jesus gives isn’t only about heaven, as important as that is, it’s about the quality of life that we can live RIGHT NOW by faith in Jesus’ completed work on our behalf. We read in the Old Testament, stories of the great men and women of God, many of whom are outlined for us in Hebrews 11. And we marvel at how God used the people of old, tempted to wonder why He doesn’t work like that today. But that’s the point – He DOES and IS working powerfully in and through ordinary men and women of God in extraordinary ways.
Today as I write it’s a Saturday morning. Tomorrow my wife and I are taking or meeting at church four of our neighbors. And I can almost see your yawns as you’re thinking: “Yeh, that’s about as exciting as Daniel in the lion’s den.” But wait! If God is allowing me and my wife to be involved in the life change of four people who were headed to hell, but now can be headed to heaven, you may not think that’s a big deal, but the angels in heaven are rejoicing, and so am I!
I’m pumped that God gave me and my wife the privilege of investing our lives in His eternal Kingdom by affecting the lives of four of our neighbors to see Him differently and learn to follow Him. We too often believe the exciting stuff that God wants to do has already been done, but that’s a lie. Today is the most exciting and challenging day EVER to be a child of God.
It takes just as much courage and dependence on the Lord to follow Him now as in any other period in history. There are at least two great truths in the verse above that point to the validity of why I believe that. William Barclay wrote: “A word, however great, is of no avail unless it becomes integrated into the person who hears it. There are many different kinds of hearing in this world. There is indifferent hearing, disinterested hearing, critical hearing, skeptical hearing, cynical hearing. The hearing that matters is the hearing that listens eagerly, believes and acts. The promises of God are not merely beautiful pieces of literature; they are promises on which a man is meant to stake his life and dominate his action.” (Barclay, W., ed. (1975). The letter to the Hebrews (p. 38). The Westminster John Knox Press.)
The fear of which the writer of the Hebrew letter refers in the verse above isn’t a paralyzing fear which makes us run away. It’s the motivation for us to put forth every ounce of energy we possess to invest ourselves in the pursuit of that to which we’ve been called as we pursue this grand invitation to something so great, so satisfying, so soul-fulfilling that we dare not miss this privileged opportunity!
It’s that to which I invite you today! Don’t postpone this opportunity to dive with all you’re worth into the gift of becoming a child of God; the proverbial gift that keeps on giving throughout eternity; the gift to be a very small part in seeing people who are walking away from God turn and run toward Him. This is the stuff of which a great life is made. Please join me!
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 