Hebrews 3:12
“Take care, brothers, lest
there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away
from the living God.”
A few thoughts came into my mind, after rereading this for the third
time this morning. Paul is not
addressing unbelievers; he is without any doubt addressing those who walk with
God, those whom God has blessed in this world. Your first thoughts are that is not addressing me, but I do
know a few people that need to read that verse and apply it to their life. Stop, it does apply, you and I have a
belief problem, but often it is off our radar.
It is my personal belief, that what the world needs, is to
see Christians who believe God, Christians who are not ashamed to be considered
a fool for Christ, who listen for His voice and have already made the decision
to obey. But so many have been
taken captive by the deceitfulness of sin. They have grown wise in their thinking, and have acquired
much of what the world calls success, and what is referred to as success brings
with it pride and arrogance. Take
care, brothers, because there is not room for pride and arrogance in a
believers heart, it will always lead to an evil and unbelieving heart, it will
lead you to fall away from the fellowship of other believers, it will lead you
away from the living God. Is that
where you find yourself? It
matters not what title you have at the local church, it may be pastor, or
teacher, elder, or deacon, but you have began to trust in programs or money
more than you trust in God. You
still say the right words, but your heart is unbelieving and evil.
It is so important to remember that this is referring to a
saved man, a man or woman who trusts in the Lord, they have walked in the years
of drought and have not feared, they have placed their roots into the stream of
faith, Jeremiah 17:7-8, talks of such a man, but both the saved and the unsaved
are referred to in the same chapter verses 5-6, have verse 9 in common. “The heart
is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand
it?” Verse 10 gives a clear understanding of the who can
understand your heart and mind, “I the Lord search
the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according
to the fruit of his deeds.”
I also believe that not one of us who are in Christ wants to
fall away from the living God, so what are some signs you and I can look for? Jesus said to watch your heart for
these things; evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness;
all of these come from within our hearts and defile a person. You may want to
look this up, it is in Mark 7:26.
For these reasons, we need to have an accountability partner, and we
must have the fellowship of a local church. Do not believe that you can live the Christ life without
being in fellowship with others who also are living in this world system, this
present darkness. Hebrews 3:13!
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
No comments:
Post a Comment