Is God Building My Faith? (Hebrews 12-13)
Have you ever felt your faith being tested? Even Jesus was tested in the wilderness, but with joy carried on the path before Him.
Hebrews 12-13
Today's Scripture Passage
A Few Thoughts to Consider
What is God's plan for building our faith?
The building blocks of a "Hall of Faith" Hebrews 11 life come on top of the blocks of struggle and discipline outlined in Hebrews 12-13. Hebrews 12:1-2 says,
1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
We're to view the Christian life as a marathon runner or boxer. The prize is Jesus, and we're running with this unified group of believers that extends back to creation. Donald Guthrie notes, "The exhortation let us run with perseverance is the positive side to the shedding of unnecessary burdens. It is this positive side which carries the emphasis in the Greek. It is an action which requires effort. No athlete can expect to win without determination. The word used implies the idea of endurance, a pressing on to the end in spite of the difficulties."[1]
What was this joy that lay before Jesus? According to Gareth Cockerill, "The joy God set before him (12:2) was not so much the joy of returning to heaven, but the joy of bringing God's sons and daughters across the finish line into God's presence."[2] This was what helped him endure the weight of the cross—his love for people like you and me.
One of the reasons it's so easy to give up is we lose sight of God's profound love for us and the eternal joy that awaits us. Rather than keeping our eyes on Jesus, we focus on the cross we're each called to bear and the shame we feel from the sins we've committed. Thankfully, when we lose focus, this is when our loving Father disciplines us.
Quoting from Proverbs 3:11-12 (which we'll cover tomorrow), the author of Hebrews says in 12:6, "for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives." Cockerill notes, "The Greek word translated discipline is a bit broader than the English word. Ancient writers used it to describe the training of children. It includes both instruction and correction."[3] In his translation of this passage, Scott McKnight prefers the term "educates."[4]
God's education is always for our good. As we run and struggle against sin, God will test us. This testing is different from tempting. The devil tempts us to destroy our souls. Our Heavenly Father tests us to make us more like Christ and grow our faith.
A Meditation to PRAY
Praise | Thank you for your discipline that continues to turn my eyes to your love and eternal reward.
Release | I release my desire for temporal things. Help me not to look to what is “easier” to satisfy me but to look instead to what will make me more like you.
Ask | Discipline me today in your goodness. If I am staying outside the bounds of how you want me to live, change me.
Yield | I surrender my limited understanding to you. Show me that your burden is light, and help me to walk in your ways.
A Challenge to Act Like Christ
As the author of Hebrews closes out this book, he again points us back to the old Mosaic covenant and reiterates why Jesus is better. In Hebrews 13:15, the author writes, "Therefore, through him let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name."
This teaches us something about the nature of the Christian life. It will take more than this lifetime to unpack all the rich truths contained in Hebrews, but the more we meditate on these words and understand what God has done from creation until now, the more we will be compelled to worship.
Sometimes, we struggle to worship as we should. We want to pray, we want to sing, and we want to get more out of the Bible, but everything feels dry. If this is the case, the solution to your spiritual dryness might be to increase the depth of your spiritual well. This is what this devotional is all about. As we return to the Old Testament next week, we do so with the goal of increasing our faith in God. And as we look at this grand story of God's redemption, we can echo the words of Hebrews 13:8 that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
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[1]Donald Guthrie, Hebrews: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 6 of Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. IVP/Accordance electronic ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1983), 251.
[2] Gareth L. Cockerill, Hebrews: A Commentary for Bible Students (Wesleyan Bible Study Commentary) (Wesleyan Publishing House, Kindle Edition), loc. 5670.
[3] Gareth L. Cockerill, Hebrews: A Commentary for Bible Students (Wesleyan Bible Study Commentary) (Wesleyan Publishing House, Kindle Edition), loc. 5734.
[4] Scott McKnight, The Second Testament, 254.
