I read this the other day and wanted to share it with each of you. What an honor it is to follow God. Have a great Labor Day weekend.
Following God
Hebrews 12
This is the chapter of Hebrews that gets ignored quite often by those of a more hyper-faith or hyper-grace persuasion and emphasized by those who need comfort in what has become a miserable life. I don’t know that I would invoke the word balance here but at the very least I do think this passage should be given everyone’s audience.
The abstract is this: we must be willing to receive correction to our course if we want our course to take us to our desired eternity.
Verse 2: looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
There is a comparison to be made between the life we live and the life lived by Jesus. Make no mistake, the consequences of our sin that Jesus endured (and despised) is not for us to endure, however- our association with the cross is necessary. This relationship is one in which we must receive the correction and instruction of the Father.
God is Holy, God is Good, God so loved…all true. But God is also an all-consuming fire that burns out (demands removal of) those things that so easily change our course from Him towards sin. Our acceptance of Jesus Christ does not absolve us from holiness. Our acceptance of Jesus Christ allows entrance into the throne (of grace) where we must be willing to hear and receive whatever comes from God’s throne. Jesus is at the right hand of the Father having fulfilled the necessary penalty for our sin. We don’t have to pay the penalty because Jesus already did. But our acceptance of what He did brings us to the place where we were intended to be- in a relationship with God.
In this place (relationship with God) we must endure what has sometimes been misunderstood. Jesus didn’t endure sickness (He endured stripes for our healing); Jesus didn’t endure confusion (He was chastised for peace). So, here is the deal- the chastisement of the Father toward us doesn’t involve receiving what Jesus did not but rather a conversation. This conversation may ask us to give up habits or treat others with equality or change or ignore certain ambitions. This conversation may also push us to achieve what we don’t think we can or do what seems impossible. Following God is intense.
There is a tension that exists in the Christian between associating our salvation with the sacrifice of Christ (grace) and associating ourselves with following Christ (sanctification). The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news that allows us to realize we have been restored to God. He did what we couldn’t. But the good news simply starts the story. He did what we can’t, but He also did what we absolutely can. When we understand what we don’t have to endure we will find the greater purpose in what we must endure.
This is following God.
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