But encourage one another
Today's reading Hebrews 3:7-19
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Today’s blog
“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today’, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Hebrews 3:13)
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"But" is a small word which can make a huge difference. The writer has just issued an urgent warning to his Christian readers not to have “a sinful unbelieving heart” which – as with the Israelites in the wilderness – will result in them turning away from God (4:12). It’s a sobering warning, reminding us that, just as they had hardened their hearts to God’s word, we too are also vulnerable to “sin’s deceitfulness”.
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How can we avoid being deceived by sin and by the tricks of the evil one (2 Cor.2:11)? It’s important to know that unbelief isn’t the same as doubt. When we “live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor.5:7) doubt is inevitable at times. Unbelief is different, a refusal to belief what God has said, because our hearts are hard towards him. So “above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Prov.4:23). And then be watchful and on guard against temptation (Mt.24:42-44; Mt.26:41).
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That’s not easy on our own. But here’s the big “but” – we are not meant to stand alone in our discipleship. We belong to a family of “holy brothers and sisters” (3:1) who all share in the same struggle to live as holy people. We all need to be encouraged to keep on fixing our thoughts on Jesus, in order to keep living by faith “daily”. That means too that we all need to be encouragers of one another (10:25), through words which build us up and which keep us looking up (Eph.4:16; Col.3:1-4).
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(To dig a bit deeper into Hebrews 3:7-19 click here for some commentary notes.)