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| Unsplash: Emma Shappley |
Last week, we looked at the exhortation to throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that entangles us to run with perseverance the race marked out for us (see Hebrews 12:1). Put in this way, it seems that throwing off our excess baggage, as it were, is for our benefit: to achieve the purpose God has for us, for our good and for His ultimate glory. In the larger context of Hebrews, we can do this because Jesus (as the author of Hebrews so eloquently lays out for us) is better.
This week, we will consider a few other reasons why we are called to throw off all that hinders us and the sin that can entangle that also appear in the twelfth chapter of Hebrews.
There is a sizable section of the chapter devoted to the concept that God disciplines us because He is our father and we are His children, and that His reproof is actually an outpouring of His love, done only as a result of our relationship as sons to Him.
"And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? 'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.' [requoted from Prov 3: 11-12] It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?" Hebrews 12:5-7
So, when we feel the conviction of sin, we ought to interpret that as the grace bestowed upon us by a tender, loving Father, laboring to draw us closer to Himself. It is not a bad thing, ultimately, but a very good thing! It establishes us as His children, giving us comfort and security that we are indeed a part of His fold.
Lastly, the twelfth chapter of Hebrews ends with the concept that God is to be feared. In fact, a huge reason why we ought to gettison anything in our lives that does not serve our spiritual walk or bring glory to Him is that God is a powerful, frightening, wrathful God, and what He says GOES. I am afraid that we do not meditate upon God's wrath enough as modern Christ-followers. Yes, God is our gracious Father, disciplining us out of His fatherly love. But He is also a wrathful, terrifying God with whom no one dared encounter in the time of the Exodus. (If you recall, the Israelite people elected Moses to be their spokesperson and mediator out of fear of talking directly with God or coming into His presence.)
"For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, 'If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.' Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, 'I tremble with fear.'” Hebrews 12:18-21
I am challenged by how this chapter includes the exhortation found in verse 25:
"See that you do not refuse him who is speaking."
Will you...will I...ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit to throw off everything that hinders us and the sin that so easily entangles? Or will we listen, obey, and choose not to quench the Spirit's work in our hearts and lives?
I am thankful for the power we have through our union with Christ to say NO to sin, since sin is quite literally dead to us (see Romans 6), and for the ability in Christ to throw off and to run hard! May we do this in our lives, and may a watching world be in wonder at the amazing God in all of our midst.
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