Hebrews 4:1
When reading a verse like the one above it brings distress
to my heart, not for myself, but for the many who did what I did, joined a
church but did not enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus being God knew all things, and from the
beginning he knew that man wanted to be in control, that he wanted a god that
was like him, or one that he made. Jesus
also knows that mankind is willing to be very religious and the more his
religion requires the better he performs.
Jesus knew that to ask a person to deny self and by faith to trust in
His atonement, His finished work on the cross, the victory over sin was going
to be a stumbling block for many. It was
for me for 27 years, I believed in my head, but was fearful of entering into
His rest, it came down to this, I was not sure Jesus loved me and I had many
reasons to believe that no one who knew me could really love me.
Hebrews 4:1, “Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest
any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.” Most of my life on this planet,
I’ve been admonished not to fear. Fear
is the opposite of faith, but both the Old and New Testaments have one theme in
common, fear God. What does that mean? Is God not our Father, has He not spoken of
loving us so much that He allowed His only Son to die in our place, and without
question the answer is yes, that is the gospel.
I find myself coming back to, He is Creator God and I am created, His
ways are not my ways, and His thoughts are higher than my thoughts. I am the only creation that was made in His
likeness, you and I have this in common with God; we were given the ability to
reason.
My prayer for all of
us who struggle is found in Psalm 86:11, “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name.” And when we have learned to apply this verse
to our life, it will not mean we are free from trials and troubles, but we will
learn to believe, trust, and wait on our loving Father. As I ponder on these thoughts, I found myself
in the book of Micah chapter 7 and verse 7, “But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the
God of my salvation; my God will hear me.”
Remember that God has given you the ability to reason, in
that way you are in His likeness, and it is of eternal importance, what is the
object of your faith? There is one
truth, one God and one baptism, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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