Striving For Rest (Hebrews 4:1-13) скачать в хорошем качестве

Striving For Rest (Hebrews 4:1-13)

Hebrews 4 continues with the theme of perseverance and endurance, calling for us to strive to enter into God’s rest. The striving is not to be confused with working to earn God’s love or forgiveness—that’s not what is meant by striving here. This is a striving for sight, an active pursuit to see ourselves rightly and to see God rightly. As we all know, we are “prone to wander.” If we are not actively pursuing rest, then fatigue, fear, complaint, and hardness can overtake us, like those in the wilderness who could no longer see God’s grace and goodness though He had worked miracles before their eyes. The truth is, God is working miracles and flooding you with grace all the time throughout your life, but we still find ways not to notice, ways to be irritated and feel slighted by God. This text calls for us to fear, lest we harden our hearts. We are to be aware of this dynamic within us. Sin blinds us to the glory and grace of God—a spell cast over our eyes that curses our lives and damns us to hell. We’ve been eating chocolate-covered razor blades all our lives, and we know that we can be duped by the offer of them again, as foolish as it seems. ‌ Again, this text calls for us to listen to God’s voice “today” and respond, uniting what we hear from God with belief and action—obedience. But how are we to strive to see? What aids us amid the confusion? What are the smelling salts that shock the system and wake us up to our need and to our Savior? This text takes us to the ministry of the word. Like a sword, it pierces between bone and marrow, getting inside the intentions of the heart, leaving us naked and telling us the truth. But it is the truth that sets us free. It is the truth that ruthlessly shows us how we are dead in our trespasses and sins, but it is also the truth that shows us our Savior and His amazing grace. ‌ ‌ This week, what will striving for that rest look like? How will you see yourself and see God rightly? If you aren’t already, commit to taking up God’s word and reading it. Find a reading plan (here), or take up the text of an upcoming sermon and read. But that is only part of what the striving looks like. We must not only be hearers of the word, but doers of the word. As you read, go slowly and reflect upon what the word is calling you to believe, to repent of, or to do. In other words, obey the word. As George MacDonald famously put it, “obedience is the great opener of eyes.” Striving is tough, but it is like the parable of the man who was shoveling dirt until he struck treasure—treasure that he sold everything to acquire. Lean into the reading of God’s word, the discipline of it, the slowness of it, the exposure of it, and obey—it will set you free, hold you to the vine, and light your path.