Devo post #4

6/29/14

Hebrews 3:12-14

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

Stolen from JW and TC, something that I need to store in my heart.

There is always a worry that evil will take us away from God. We have doubts. We still continue to sin. There is always failure in our brokenness. We are still not perfect and will be that way until we die. Only then will the perfection in Christ become complete. Still today we strive for righteousness and to be made in the image of Christ. This is a daily and continuous struggle. That is what our lives should be.

We are called by the author of Hebrews (Paul) to exhort one another everyday. In cell group we believe that this is kind of impossible, since to call up everyone we know to exhort them would be hella time consuming, and exhorting the same person day after day will cause them to be tired out and annoyed by us. Yes, exhorting one another is exhilarating but also extremely tiring. There should be some rests, but we can exhort a different brother or sister each day. That should fulfill the verse right?

How do we exhort then? To tell our brothers and sisters that we are to always point towards the Cross, the Gospel. When we sin we fall away from the Gospel. When we love and come together as the church, we are living out the Gospel and pointing others to the Cross. When we think and discuss and take notice of the end times, that just makes the Cross more relevant and more dire. We need the Cross!

When we exhort one another, it is to prevent the other from falling into sin and having their hearts hardened. But in reality people get annoyed when we point out their sins and shove scripture down their throats. How do we exhort and admonish with gentleness in the Spirit? It is so hard. I want to love on my brothers and sisters, especially on my brothers, and want to “sharpen iron on iron”, but to them it always seems like I am just pounding on their heads, being all self-righteous, and always have condescending words for them. How do I not do this? Is it my execution or their immaturity in the Word? How does the Holy Spirit join us in unity when there is enmity? How God how? All I want is brothers who are willing to help me with my walk like how I hear BS and BQ do it. Those stories of bands of brothers who keep encouraging each other and are harsh with each other make my own spirit get excited. The stirrings man the stirrings of my heart when I hear these testimonies. I want it! I desire growth! I desire fellowship! I desire community! I desire accountability! I desire discipleship! I desire perfection and righteousness and holiness! Am I really wrong in saying any of this!?!?!?!?

The last verse talks about talking to our brothers and sisters about Christ? Do I do enough of that? Am I continuously asking my brothers and sisters, “Do you acknowledge Christ’s love for you today? Is the Gospel manifested in your life today? How are you dwelling in the Word? Is there joy or praise or peace today?” Yeah...I don’t say these to people enough. I am extremely glad that there are brothers and sisters who say these things to me. So many. I am blessed. I am glad there are those who are willing to be harsh to me in the Word, because they love me. I am glad there are those who are willing to listen to my problems and my doubts of God’s calling in my life. I am glad there are those who are willing to encourage me. I am grateful to God that He has sent accountability partners in my life, and teachers of the Word in the church through my peers and elders. I am glad the Holy Spirit is apparent in His workings in my life, and that I have a passion to research the Word and teaching on the Word. This is a gift that not everyone has been blessed with, and I just want to take full advantage of it in service and love for my brothers and sisters. Like R.C. Sproul said, to grown in the knowledge of the Word is useless if you cannot use it to love the church. It will soon cause you to distance yourself from people, and that is no good thing.

So if I continue to talk about Christ in my dialogues with my brothers and sisters, especially who Christ is in me and how the Holy Spirit is moving in me, will this bring confidence in God and in the faith to my brothers and sisters? Can this be applied to those who have forsaken the faith as well? Oh God please let it be so. Your will be done.