Is having SIN in your life really that bad?
Let's investigate verse by verse in
Hebrews 3:13-19.
13: "See to it, brothers and sisters, 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." Sounds to me like this is a warning...that a sinful heart will eventually turn away from God. It sounds to me that we NEED each other, to lean on, to be truthful with and to be encouraged so that we recognize when we are in sin and in need of change. If sin is deceitful, we must be careful and realize that it will wrap itself up in a nice little package all the while whispering to us that it holds the truth but when our friends tell us to walk away, we ought to heed that warning.
14: "We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end." Interesting..."IF" we hold our conviction. Does this mean we naturally waiver? Do we have a tendency to fall away from our original conviction? With all the other warnings in the Bible about falling away and not to be like the world, I'm guessing this must be true. We are at risk of letting our convictions go. We get lazy. We start to make excuses. We justify. And in the end, it's telling us we are not sharing in Christ, are we? We lose out on fellowship....relationships....and THE most important relationship.
15: "As has just been said:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.” Harden your hearts....what might this mean? Harden your hearts...hearing from God....perhaps hearing and knowing better and choosing to do it anyways? Burying you conviction underneath your justification? Crossing the line you swore you'd never cross because you're tired of fighting the good fight of faith? Yes, all of those things would be the first steps leading to hardening of the heart. But what rebellion does he mention? Are we who make choices such as these, rebelling? Are we compared to those that have rebelled? Even when it's one simple choice? One action? One thing? Yes.
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.” Harden your hearts....what might this mean? Harden your hearts...hearing from God....perhaps hearing and knowing better and choosing to do it anyways? Burying you conviction underneath your justification? Crossing the line you swore you'd never cross because you're tired of fighting the good fight of faith? Yes, all of those things would be the first steps leading to hardening of the heart. But what rebellion does he mention? Are we who make choices such as these, rebelling? Are we compared to those that have rebelled? Even when it's one simple choice? One action? One thing? Yes.
16: Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17: And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness?
Are we being compared to the Israelites? The ones who wandered in the desert? Who disobeyed? Who complained? Who lacked faith? Who questioned? Who....wait a minute. We ARE like them, aren't we? The Israelites didn't end up in the desert overnight. It started with a mindset. The mentality that "I am better off doing this on my own" and "I don't want to change." And yet, somehow God didn't leave them. He didn't kill them off. He extended His mercy and grace. The same way He does today. He extends His hand. His love. His heart. And His warnings. He loves us so much that He imparts warnings and gives us friends that will speak the truth in love.
18: "And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?
19: So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief." His rest? Would that also mean His peace? Aha. So when we are walking in disobedience, we cannot at the same time be in His peace. And unbelief? What does that have to do with sin and obedience? Perhaps we demonstrate our lack of faith and unbelief when we choose a way apart from Him....especially when deep down we know better.
Listen to His voice. Don't harden your heart. Choose what you know is right. Stop justifying it. Quit complaining and questioning. Start trusting. Living. And go and share with truth with those you care about. Risk a relationship in order to restore one with Him. Take the jokes and isolation that comes with living in a world that is not our home. And stay the path. Keep going. He gives us the warnings out of love. And He gives us the strength to endure out of love. He guides you and cares for you....out of love.
Do YOU have other insights about these verses? How have they spoken to YOU? Please share with us!
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