Post by Cindy on Feb 25, 2016 7:30:21 GMT -5
“I would never do to someone else what he did to me!” When we are sinned against by others, we can easily forget that we too are sinners and apart from grace we are no better than our offenders. In our resentment against others we forget that our own hearts are “deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9). The writer of Hebrews reminds us, “See to it . . . that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily . . . so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Hebrews 3:12–13).
A hardened heart expresses sentiments like “I can’t believe he did that; I would never do that to him!” Are we so sure that we couldn’t do that? How do we know that, given the same circumstances and environment, and the same temptations and provocations, we would not commit the same hurtful act? Proverbs 16:18 alerts us to our danger: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” The apostle Paul warns, “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12).
Few have captured this concept better than the English Reformation pastor and martyr, John Bradford (1510–55). From his prison cell in the tower of London he saw a criminal being led to execution for his crimes and said, “There but for the grace of God goes John Bradford.”
“Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ” See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” (Hebrews 3)
Heart of the matter: Daily reflections for changing hearts and lives.
A hardened heart expresses sentiments like “I can’t believe he did that; I would never do that to him!” Are we so sure that we couldn’t do that? How do we know that, given the same circumstances and environment, and the same temptations and provocations, we would not commit the same hurtful act? Proverbs 16:18 alerts us to our danger: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” The apostle Paul warns, “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Corinthians 10:12).
Few have captured this concept better than the English Reformation pastor and martyr, John Bradford (1510–55). From his prison cell in the tower of London he saw a criminal being led to execution for his crimes and said, “There but for the grace of God goes John Bradford.”
“Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ” See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.” (Hebrews 3)
Heart of the matter: Daily reflections for changing hearts and lives.
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