Posts that reference the book of Hebrews

4 Keys to Hope

So we’re finishing up our look at 4 keys to some important aspects of our walk with Christ. We started with 4 keys to prayer, then faith, peace and joy. This week, we’ll finish up with hope—a confident expectation of what God has promised, grounded in His faithfulness. Here are four keys to unlocking and maintaining hope, rooted in Scripture and our relationship with God.

Anchor Your Hope in God’s Promises

Hope begins with trusting in the promises of God. Romans 15:4 says, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”

God’s Word is full of promises that offer us hope in every situation. Abraham’s story in Genesis 12-21 exemplifies this. Despite seemingly impossible circumstances, Abraham trusted God’s promise of a son.

Regularly read and meditate on God’s promises in the Bible. Write down key verses that speak to His promises and keep them where you can see them daily.

Remember God’s Faithfulness

Reflecting on God’s past faithfulness fuels our hope for the future. Lamentations 3:21-23 reminds us, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Jeremiah found hope in the midst of despair by remembering God’s unchanging faithfulness. We can experience that same renewal when we recall how God has worked in our lives and in the lives of others.

Keep a record of God’s faithfulness in your life. Write down answered prayers, blessings, and moments when you’ve seen His hand at work. Reflect on these entries during challenging times.

Look For the Hope of Christ’s Return

Our ultimate hope as believers lies in the return of Jesus Christ. Titus 2:13 calls it “the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Focusing on the promise of Christ’s return gives us hope beyond our current circumstances. The early Christians, enduring persecution and trials, found great hope in the assurance of Jesus’ return.

Spend time studying eschatological passages in the Bible. Reflect on the surety of Christ’s return and the eternal life we will share with Him. Let this truth encourage you in the present.

Encourage One Another

Hope is strengthened in the body of Christ. Hebrews 10:23-25 urges us, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 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.”

By encouraging and supporting each other, we build and maintain hope. Sharing our struggles and victories with fellow believers fosters a hopeful and uplifting environment.

Be intentional about encouraging others. Send a note or a text , pray together, and remind each other of God’s promises and faithfulness. Join a small group or Bible study to strengthen your connections to others.

Hope is a vital part of our spiritual journey, sustaining us through life’s challenges. By anchoring ourselves in God’s promises, remembering His faithfulness, looking forward to Christ’s return, and encouraging one another, we can experience a hope that is steadfast and unshakable.

4 Keys to Faith

By Paula Wiseman

Last week, we discussed how to tackle life’s biggest problems through prayer, drawing on the power and presence of God in our daily lives. This week, let’s dive into the foundations of our spiritual journey: faith. Faith is the cornerstone of our relationship with God, and today we’ll explore four keys to faith that can help us build and strengthen our faith.

Faith begins with trusting God’s Promises

The first of our keys to faith is trusting God’s promises. The Bible is filled with assurances of God’s love, provision, and faithfulness. Consider Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

God’s promises are steadfast and true, even when our circumstances suggest otherwise. Abraham’s story in Genesis 15 is a powerful example. Despite his old age and Sarah’s barrenness, Abraham believed God’s promise of numerous descendants. His unwavering trust is a model for us.

We need to read and meditate on God’s promises in Scripture regularly. (We can’t trust them if we don’t know what they are.) Let those sink into your heart and mind. This key to faith will go a long way to reinforcing our trust in Him.

Obedience is the tangible expression of our faith

Obedience is a tangible expression of our faith. James 2:26 tells us, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” Our actions should reflect our trust in God and His commandments.

Noah’s story in Genesis 6-9 illustrates this beautifully. Despite never having seen rain, Noah built the ark in obedience to God’s command. His faith was demonstrated through his actions.

Take some inventory of your life. Where are the areas where you can align your actions more closely with God’s Word? Take small steps of obedience and watch how your faith grows.

Rely on the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is our helper, guiding us into all truth and strengthening our faith. Galatians 5:22-23 lists the fruit of the Spirit, including faithfulness. The Spirit empowers us to live out our faith in practical ways.

The early church in Acts relied heavily on the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Acts 4:31 records that after they prayed, “the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” Their reliance on the Spirit fueled their boldness and faith.

We tend to trudge along carrying an increasingly heavy burden in a barely discernible direction, determined to do it ourselves like we have to prove to God we can do it. That’s not faith. It may be pride, stubbornness, or even insanity, but it’s not faith.

Like so many things in our walk with Christ, the Holy Spirit is key to our faith. Cultivate a habit of seeking the Holy Spirit’s guidance through prayer and listening. Invite Him to strengthen your faith and lead you daily.

Persevere Through Trials

Faith is often forged in the fires of adversity. James 1:2-3 encourages us, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

Job’s story is a profound example of perseverance. Despite losing everything, he declared, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15). His unwavering faith amidst suffering is an inspiration.

Reflect on past trials and how God has been faithful through them. Use those experiences to bolster your faith in current or future challenges. Start a notebook to record these events or track them in your planner.

Faith is a journey, not a destination. It grows and deepens as we walk with God, trust His promises, obey His commands, rely on the Holy Spirit, and persevere through life’s trials. Embrace these keys to faith and watch how your relationship with God transforms.

Secrets

By Paula

He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him. Daniel 2:22

According to a study published in 2017, the average person is holding on to at least thirteen secrets, five of which they’ve never told another living soul. These aren’t what-I-got-you-for-Christmas kind of secrets, either. They are heavy, burdensome secrets like lies told, trusts violated, marriage vows broken, and crimes committed ranging from theft to assault. Thirteen of them.

We expend tremendous mental energy to keep them hidden, only to have the memory and regret assault us in our quietest, private moments. The guilt and shame associated with the secrets come out as anger and irritability. Secret-keepers can become bullies or manipulators, protecting the secret at all costs. Sometimes, the cost is loss of relationships. Sometimes, it’s loss of health. Occasionally, tragically, secret-keepers have taken their own lives rather than face exposure.

We have lived in fear of exposure of our secrets and our sins since Eden. But we don’t have to.

We are invited and encouraged to bring those secrets to Christ. In Matthew 11:28 Jesus called for all who were burdened to come to Him for rest, whether burdened by the standards of the Law or burdened by failure – even secret failure – to live up to it. Peter echoes that in 1 Peter 5:6-7 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

Letting go of our secrets requires humility. We have to own our secrets and the failures behind them. Primarily I mean owning them before God. (There are undoubtedly times when confession to others is in order, but public humiliation is rarely helpful.) When we do, God does an amazing thing — He covers them. He doesn’t hide them again under layers of shame, but He covers them with His love and His righteousness. Theologically, this is called atonement. God acted it out when He covered Adam and Eve with animal skins. He gave it to Israel in an object lesson when the broken law tablets in the ark were covered with the blood of the sacrifice. He completed the covering when Christ died and atoned for our sins.

Letting go of our secrets requires trusting God. We have to trust that He will keep His promise to cover the secrets, (He will) and that He won’t cast us out when we ask. (He won’t). Romans 10:11 and John 6:37 assure us. God knows all of our deep, dark secrets, and He has taken action to deal with them, beginning with Adam and Eve and continuing to the present day.

Letting go of our secrets requires letting go. It sounds obvious, but sometimes this is the hardest part. We have long memories and much more experience with the conditional, incomplete forgiveness and acceptance that others offer, rather than the total atonement God gives us. In Isaiah 54:4, God promises He won’t shame us again. For those of us who have carried secrets as an integral part of our selves, it takes time to grasp that God has taken them, and we no longer have to carry the burden for ourselves. It can be a hard habit to break. Added to that, one of Satan’s lines of attack is to try and convince us that we still deserve our shame.

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that we have a Great High Priest as our advocate, and as a result, we can boldly and confidently approach God’s throne to obtain (not just ask for, but receive) grace and mercy when we need it. (Hebrews 4:14-16) Even … and especially, when it comes to dealing with our secrets.

Peter’s Building Blocks: Perseverance

By Paula Wiseman

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 2 Peter 1:5-6

Perseverance.
Endurance.
Patience.
Steadfastness.

In hard times.
Lean times.
Times of aggravation and oppression.
Times of suffering and uncertainty.

It is hupomone.
It is looking beyond the present.
It is knowing the sufferings of this world are not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18).

It is resisting temptation.
Standing strong in the face of opposition or threats.
It is not backing down or slinking away.

Perseverance is clinging to God’s sovereignty and His justice.
It is following Christ’s example.

“[W]ho for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

Bottom line: Persevere
Keep doing what you’re doing (1 Cor. 4:12).
He will give you the strength (Phil 4:13).
Don’t grow weary (Heb. 12:3).
It is worth it (1 Timothy 4:10).

Sound Mind Theology: Blaming

By Paula Wiseman

Since the Fall, we have struggled not only with the content of our thoughts but the process as well. Yes, even the very way we size up situations and apply knowledge and experience to them is tainted by sin. In other words, we are constantly plagued by fallacies and cognitive distortions. So in our series on sound mind theology, we’ve touched on three interrelated distortions — minimizing, maximizing, and disqualifying. We discussed the fallacies of fairness and control. Last week, we got personal with two cognitive distortions, labelling and personalization. Today, we’ll finish up the series with blaming.

Blaming, as a cognitive distortion, is when we assign guilt or responsibility to someone else for our emotional responses. “I don’t want to have lunch with her. She makes me feel guilty about what I eat.” “He makes me so angry with his dumb comments.” Blaming may make us feel better temporarily. We may even feel like we’re protecting ourselves by avoiding a difficult situation.

The Roots of Blaming

Human beings have been blaming each other and other things since the very beginning. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. They both blamed God. And that shifting was passed down to their sons. Cain’s jealousy of his brother, Abel, resulted in murder. What was the root of the jealousy? Blaming someone else rather than admitting his own failure to be obedient. All of these examples from the early chapters of Genesis expose the basis of blaming. We don’t want to admit responsibility for our shortcomings, our failures, our sins.

The Spiritual Side of Blaming

Blaming God puts us in an antagonistic relationship with Him. We resent His correction. We mistrust Him. We ascribe questionable motives to God’s actions. (This is exactly what happened in the Garden.) These attitudes are wholly ungodly and require repentance.

He is wise in heart and mighty in strength —who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded? Job 9:4

The writer of Hebrews calls out the deceitfulness of sin.

[B]ut exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:13

Taking Responsibility

From our examples above, quality of lunch and comments aside, we have the power to determine how we respond. It isn’t “she makes me feel guilty.” It’s I (choose to) feel guilty.” And it’s actually not “he makes me angry.” It’s “I get angry.”

If we get in the habit of blaming others, we don’t see where we are wrong. We may ignore the Holy Spirit’s efforts to correct us. If it persists, we can grow hard-hearted toward God.

Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. Proverbs 28:13

As for me, I said, “O LORD, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!” Psalm 41:4

Furthermore, if we see someone else as the cause of our distress, on whatever level, we cannot, will not love them the way God has called us to love others.

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 1 Peter 1:22

Going Forward

All of the fallacies and cognitive distortions we’ve looked at prevent us from living a life of obedience, service, and love. But they are also deeply ingrained in us. It takes humility to ask God to show them to you and diligence to reshape them. But we have a great mission ahead of us, and our minds need to be fully engaged.

Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:13

All Things New: The Covenant

By Paula Wiseman

It’s a new year and our thoughts naturally tend toward making a fresh start. As believers, we have already experienced the freshest start possible. Our sins have been wiped away completely, and we are a new creation. Paul says as much in 2 Corinthians 5:17. We have a new birth, new life, new position, new nature, new goals, new relationships, a new mission, a new purpose … and many more. But the key to all of this, we learned last week, was God’s divine initiative. One of the ways that initiative was manifested was God initiating a covenant with individuals and with groups of people. And we learn about those in Hebrews.

Before we discuss the covenants themselves, it’s important to realize that they are solely a function of God’s grace. Yes, Abraham was a man of faith, but God’s decision to cut a covenant with the patriarch came before Abram exercised any faith in God. It wasn’t a case of God reviewing humanity and deciding Abram was someone He could work with, someone He wanted on His team. No. Fallen humanity never seeks God or the things of God. But God does seek us, and He graciously calls us into a relationship with Him. Abram wasn’t a party to the first covenant in Scripture but his is the first we’ll consider.

Abraham

In Hebrews 6:13-14, the writer recalls the covenant God made with Abraham in Genesis 22.

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.”

Even though the writer doesn’t cite the entire covenant and its promises, they were certainly in view to him and to his readers. Those promises included an inheritance of land in Canaan and a unique identity as God’s people. God chose a people for Himself, the descendants of Abraham. Later, we’ll find out just what it means to be a descendant of Abraham.

Moses

When we think of covenants, we think of the covenant God made with Israel through the Exodus. In Exodus 19 God invites the people to live as His people, under His law. While the people immediately accepted that offer, especially after seeing the miraculous deliverance from Egypt, things went south quickly.

As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?
Hebrews 3:15-16

The covenant based on keeping God’s law was a failure because the people were rebellious. Note it was not a problem with God’s law. Paul explains in Romans 7 the law was good. It points out how high God’s standards are and how short we fall. Even if we think things would have been different if WE had been at Sinai, if WE had seen those miracles … the truth is, WE have already failed. A quick dip on social media provides enough evidence that, left to ourselves, we are in deep trouble. Better evidence is in Romans 3 where Paul plainly tells us that none of us are good, none of us seek after God.

While that first covenant had a system in place to cover our sins and delay judgment, there was no permanent way to erase our sins. That’s why God initiated a New Covenant in Christ.

The NEW Covenant

Christ Himself explained in the Upper Room that He was inaugurating a new covenant, guaranteed by His blood. The writer of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah 31:31-34 about the New Covenant.

For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant…”
Hebrews 8:8-9

This is how we know the New Covenant wasn’t a last-minute idea God threw together when Israel couldn’t keep the Law. HE knew we wouldn’t be able to keep the Law. We, however, had to see for ourselves. (We’re stubborn that way.) God knew all along that redemption through the blood of Christ was the only way our sins could be dealt with and satisfy both His justice and His grace.

Hebrews 9 explains (and it is absolutely worth the long quote):

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Hebrews 9:11-15.

The blood of goats and bulls could only go so far. How much MORE will the blood of Christ Jesus Himself, freely offered, purify us! This is how we become the people of God by faith like Abraham. We believe God that Christ’s death is sufficient and is available to us. God accounts that to us and we are considered righteous.

Now that’s not the end of the story, and we don’t get to simply sit around patting ourselves on the back. Under the covenant made while Moses led the people, obedience was expected in order to enjoy the blessings of the covenant. Deuteronomy 27 describes how the Israelites lined up on Mounts Ebal and Gerizim to rehearse the curses for disobedience and the blessings for obedience.

Even under the New Covenant, believers have a responsibility. While we’ll look at the charge more next week, here’s how the writer of Hebrews lays it out.

Therefore, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
Hebrews 10:19-24