Word for Today: Friday, January 25, 2013

 Hebrews 12:12-29 Warning against Refusing God

Memory Verse Hebrews 11:25(KJV)

"See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven":

In our previous passage, we learnt that we are in a race and we saw the requirements we need to run the Christian race. We need to

·        Lay aside every weight

·        Run with perseverance and faith

·        Look unto Jesus, our great High Priest

We also learnt about enduring hardship as discipline. Discipline signifies our mark of legitimacy. As children of God, we will go through discipline, it is always painful but the end product is rewarding. God loves us so much to leave us the way we are.

Today, we are being warned not to refuse God. We have previously seen the dangers of refusing God, and are going to look at them again today. God’s wrath and Judgement await those who disobey him.  God has done so much to reconcile us to him, let us therefore be careful not to drift away from him even as we run this race.

We know that our God is holy. Psalm 92:15 says God is Holy and there is no unrighteousness in him (see also Deut 32:4). To be able to fellowship with God, we have to be holy as well. No matter how much you stir oil and water, they can never mix same goes with light and darkness. We are encouraged here to pursue holiness, we live in a world where sin is the order of the day and it is openly practiced. These days, even the church encourages sin, they sugar-coat the gospel to suit themselves and their members. God is calling on us to pursue holiness today. How do we pursue holiness is this perverse world? We need to constantly study God’s world (2 Timothy 2:15) and have we have seen in Hebrews 3:1b, 12:2, we need to fix our thoughts on Jesus.

When Jesus was on earth, he was tempted to participate in the sins of men. He could have chosen to sin against God and enjoy the pleasures of this world, but he didn’t. As believers, we should learn from Jesus and whenever you find yourself in a compromising situation, ask yourself “What will Jesus do in this situation?”

Inasmuch as God wants us to have a relationship with him, he also wants us to have a relationship with our fellow human beings. One way of reflecting God’s love is by loving others. How can claim to love God whom we haven’t seen yet hate our brother whom we see? (See 1 John 4:7-21). In Children Sunday school, my teacher taught me that JOY means Jesus first, others and you. It is very important to live at peace with everyone, because we will also be judged based on our relationship with other. (Read Matt 25:31-46)

I saw a note by a 4years old to God on the internet and it reads, Dear God, how do you do it? We are only four in my family yet I find it hard to love them. How do you manage to love everyone?

It is really hard loving everyone especially those who are mean to you. I come from a country where the Christians are persecuted by the Muslims on a daily basis. Every time, we hear news about bomb blast and the death of Christians, and I told a friend that I wish I could possess God’s power for some hours and I would use it to bomb all the Muslims in my country as payback for killing the Christians. That was just me talking out of anger but later when I began to ponder on it, God made me see the need to forgive and pray for those Muslims. Jesus, while he was on the cross prayed for all his persecutors, he asked God to forgive them, even Stephen prayed as he was being martyred.

Lately God has been teaching me so much about forgiveness. It is very difficult to forgive sometimes. It can be really disappointing when those who you hold in high esteem fail or hurt you badly but God wants us to live at peace with all men, not just your immediate family. He wants us to live at peace with everyone.

The grace of God is fulfilling what he has called us to do. We are warned in verse 15 not to miss that grace. We need to be in tune with God to know his will for us, only then would we be able to walk in them. Esau wasn’t in tune with God, he was godless and unfaithful and it was easy for him to trade his birth right for just a bowl of stew. God has a plan for us, we can never fulfil his plan if we decide to trade our birth rights to the devil for worldly pleasures that will perish.

We have been bought with a price and by the death of Jesus we have a new and better covenant with God, let us be careful not to sell our birth right by indulging in sexual immorality. Sexual sin is a sin against our bodies and we know that our bodies is God’s temple, therefore we should keep it holy and honour it. (1 Cor 6:18-20)

Verse 18-29 gives us the final warning.

Mount Zion connotes the place of God’s dwelling; it is the new covenant in Christ for the believer. Coming to Mount Zion means coming to God through our mediator Jesus who pleads for mercy on our behalf and whose blood is able to cleanse us from all sin. Fellowship with God can make us grow into perfection, perfection means maturation, growing from a baby Christian to a full blown adult in Christ.

We also see the dangers of refusing God, disobedience against God’s commands enacts God’s wrath. He is a consuming fire to those who are disobedient to him.

God has given us the new and better covenant through the blood of his son Jesus; let us therefore open our hearts to God. He is still calling people today, we are being warned in verse 25 not to refuse God. The way you live your life will determine how you want God to treat you. If you are obedient to him, he will be a father to you but if you are disobedient to him, then he will be a consuming fire to you. Endeavour to live a life of thanksgiving and worship to God, reverencing him always.