But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God

Hebrews 12

¹⁸ You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; ¹⁹ to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, ²⁰ because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”^{[c] 21} The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

  

²² But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, ²³ to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 

What a sweet way of describing our Lord Jesus Christ as someone who is always available and always approachable.  Unlike the old covenant, Jesus Christ desires a personal relationship with each one of us and desires us to be in daily conversation with him through worship, repentance, thanks and supplication.

These verses also humble me as a father who has too often reigned over my children through fear and in the same way that Christ reigns through love, I should reign over my children through love as well.

My Prayer: Lord, You are not only a God of love, You ARE love as You define it and there is no better way to describe who You are and what You desire than love.  And Your love for us knows no boundaries and how awesome is this!  Yet I continue to sin through anger, pride, selfishness, and other ways.  Lord, I desperately need You and I need You to forgive me so please forgive me.  Help me be the child and man You desire me to  be.

Make Every Effort to Live In Peace With Everyone

Hebrews 12

¹⁴ Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

What a damning verse this is for me for I daily am either verbally assaulting someone or thinking about it thereby sinning in my heart.

²³ Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.  (Proverbs 4:23)

My Prayer: Lord, You are so pure and holy and You wash away all sin.  Forgive me please for my sin of anger and verbal assault.  Purify me of my anger - transform both my heart and my life so that I can live in peace with everyone.

Endure hardship as discipline

Hebrews 12

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? ⁸ If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. ⁹ Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! ¹⁰ They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. 

 

 ¹² Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. ¹³ “Make level paths for your feet,”^[b] so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

Again my focus of reflection is a new job and whether it is God's plan for me to have a new job for a new company at this time - a significant life change.  Much scripture has spoken to me on this topic:

¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  (1 Thessalonians 5:18) 

> I should not put any contentment in any earthly circumstances but to gain contentment in all earthly circumstances.  In this regard, while I may view my current company in an unfavorable light, I should not expect that any new company will fill a hole that only God can fill.  I need to be aware of how I work for Jesus and not any company in particular.

¹² For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

> Two key points.  Scripture should be the reference point for our entire life and all decisions to be made as it will reveal our heart vs the Will of God.  Secondly, God is actively working in our life and always up to something new.  This is consistent with the message yesterday (18-DEC) from Pastor Scott where Scott asks us to seek God's will for a new beginning as God creates a new beginning (or new normal) for Mary in Luke 1:26-38). 

Today the question is about hardship and whether the hardships I have endured at my current company should be viewed as "over" and has God prepared this new opportunity at the new company as my new beginning?

My Prayer: As always God, You are the beginning and the end, You are everything - without You there would be nothing.  Your creation is great and of course Your love and grace is great, particularly Your love and grace for me.  I am not worthy yet You shower me with love and grace anyway.  How incredible is that...I fall to my knees ready to serve you Lord.  Forgive me of my anger and sin and help me shed this sin so that I can fully love and serve You.  Reveal to me Your plan for me in a new job and help me submit to You fully.

A Finish Line Like No Other Requires Two Visions, Unified By God

Hebrews 12

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ²³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Here I see a finish line like no other - one that leads to heaven.  Even more striking in this passage are the messages that teach us HOW to run the race:

- "run with perseverence"
- "fix[ing] our eyes on Jesus"
- "for the joy set before him"

The underlying message is that we are to run on earth with a vision of the finish line - of heaven.  This requires us to fix our eyes on Jesus DURING the race, and we are to run with perseverance DURING the race.  What is not said here but is said elsewhere in scripture is that:

- we are to be good stewards of our time, treasures, talents (Luke 12:48)
- we are to gain strength and speed in our running ability over time (Hebrews 5:12-14)

These messages require that we have a vision of BOTH our time on earth (so that we can properly run the race) and of heaven (the ultimate finish line).  The former is something I have been thinking quite a bit about - a spiritual scorecard.

My Prayer: Lord, You ran the race here on earth like no other and the finish line that You set before us is unlike any other finish line.  To be in Your kingdom, to have You as our God as the ultimate coach, mentor, father, etc. is awesome!  Yet I don't train and run as You desire me too - Lord please forgive me for this.  Help me build up my strength and endurance and help me fix my eyes on You and focus on the ultimate finish line.

Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see

Hebrews 11

Am I living by true faith in the same way that the biblical heroes as described by the author of Hebrews?

I would say not because I have not truly given my life away as these great men have.

They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— ³⁸ the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

  

³⁹ These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, ⁴⁰ since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

By many measures it would difficult for anyone to describe me in the same way as these great men.  Lord help me!

My Prayer: Lord, Your power is unmatched as you have taken ordinary men throughout all human history and You have used them as instruments for Your glory.  It is only through Your hands that this is possible!  I feel so unworthy to be used in this way as I sin greatly and feel so weak.  Forgive me for my lack of faith in You and my weakness.  Help me gain strength and confidence to do Your will.

Yet Again...We Are Called to Walk Alongside Each Other

Hebrews 10

Here we find yet again words that implore us as Christian brothers and sisters to walk along side each other - good times and bad:

4 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, ²⁵ not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 

....

And again in this chapter:

³³ Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 

I know I need my Christian brothers and sisters.  Yet the question remains whether I am adequately a brother to others?


My Prayer: Lord, You are more than a brother to me.  You are my Father, my heavenly Father - my Lord and my God and there is no equal.  No one or no thing even comes close.  Yet from time to time, more often than I would like, I find myself distracted or placing faith in something else or someone else other than You.  Please forgive me Lord Jesus.  Thank you for how you have already forgiven me and blessed me beyond my imagination.  Help me draw even closer to You and help me love You and follow You with all of my heart Lord Jesus.  Help me be the brother and son you intend me to be.

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more

Hebrews 10

I think it is safe to say that every day I sin multiple times.   First and foremost is the command to love.  I don't do this.  I don't love as God commands me to love.  This manifests itself in a crummy attitude at work.  If I loved as God commands me to love, I would not be disgruntled every time someone asked me to do something - I would not think to myself "I don't want to do that".  If I loved as God commands me to love then I would not be saying these things to myself let alone to others with whom I work would I? 

And this example is just the beginning.  I badly need Jesus as he is discussed in Hebrews.  Because I sin as often as I do, I need His forgiveness to move forward without being enslaved by sin and regret.  I also need His forgiveness as a way to invite Him even more so into my heart so that I can experience the true heart and transformation that comes with a life dedicated to loving and following Him.

9 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

My Prayer: Lord, Your sacrifice means more than anything else I can ever desire in my life.  There is nothing that compares - no person, earthly thing or earthly circumstance in which I may find myself can ever compare to the richness and the blessing of Your sacrifice for me.  Yet I often take this for granted and I don't draw close to you and I don't trust you or follow you.  Jesus please please forgive me.  Help me fix my eyes on You and help me be a true servant of God.

but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Hebrews 9

Am I living life with the "end in mind"?  I am going to see Christ either when He returns via the rapture or when I otherwise die.  In both senses, I don't know when I am going to die so the question becomes whether I am living life "with the end in mind".

In Hebrews this question arises here:

²⁷ Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, ²⁸ so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. 

The "waiting for Him" does not imply inaction.  On the contrary, in Hebrews we are implored to not only believe but to grow in Christ (to move on to solid food Hebrews 5:13-14).  We need to move the needle.

My Prayer: Lord, You words are a lamp unto my feet and they are Truth.  Without Your words I am lost.  I desperately need you Lord.  I am not only lost without You but I am broken and useless.  Yet You are able to use my brokenness - how great You are and how great You are to me.  Lord, I continue to have anger problems, pride problems, greed problems, and on and on.  Please forgive me for all of this and please purify me of all of this - invade my heart, take it and  transform my heart and my mind Lord.  Help me give my life totally away to you.  This is my desire.

...So that we may serve the living God!

Hebrews 9

I am often explaining away why I don't serve God in this way or that way.  Yet today I feel "called to the mat" for these excuses:

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! (verse 14)

God's piercing (as they often are) words remind me that He has cleansed my conscience from sin and through this process He has provided only the rest that He can provide (Hebrews 4).  It is through this rest that I am to serve Him.  Yet here I am lollygagging away my days.  Lord help me!

My Prayer: Lord, You not only died for me but You rose again to conquer both sin and death, allowing me to have eternal rest both here on earth and in Heaven.  What an awesome gift.  Yet sometimes I don't feel worthy of this gift.  I am broken - please forgive me for my ongoing problem with anger and patience.  Forgive me as well for my lack of Christ like attitude at work.  Help me with these things as I seek for You to transform both my heart and my life.  Help me freely give my life away to You.

1 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me,

Hebrews 8

The below verse hits me right in the gut

No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, (verse 11)

For me this verse begs the question: when people deal with me is it apparent that I am so unique and so special that they want to learn about what specifically makes me so special?

The answer for me is clearly no and this is a disappointment to me.

I truly desire for people to deal with me and to know that I am a light in the world and I would like to draw others to me and to Jesus.

¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

Similarly, I DO want to explicitly spread the gospel so I desire gifting from God - as only God can do - to be obedient as an evangelist.

My Prayer: Lord, You ARE light, truth, and The Way, The ONLY Way.  I KNOW you are all I need yet from time to time I seek other Gods so please forgive me and purify me of this awful habit!  Transform my heart, my life and help me be more like You.  Help me be a light to others and spread the good news You bring the world. 

I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts.

Hebrews 8

I wish to have God's Word on my mind and in my heart - ALWAYS.

I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. (verse 10)

My Prayer: Lord, Your Word is a lamp unto my feet as it says in the Psalms; it comforts me in the darkness and it lights my way when I feel trapped with no direction to go.  Yet I often neglect going to Your Word and I seek Your forgiveness for this.  Help me seek You out more often and with all of my heart.  Help me so I can truly have You in my mind and in my heart.