Warning and Encouragement

Hebrews 12:14 “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”

           

            The author or Hebrews is unknown, as is the recipient of this letter. What is known is that the basic message of this letter is to “keep going, stay confident in Christ, remain faithful, do not drift away” (1). The first and second chapters in Hebrews give an overview of the salvation story. It uses many references to the Old Testament; Psalm 2:7, 104:4, 45:6-7, and 8:4-6, 2 Samuel 7:14, 1 Chronicles 17:13, and Deuteronomy 32:43. The first chapter discusses God’s original plan for humanity, but sin entered the world and the next chapter discusses God’s plan for salvation so that everyone can have the opportunity to receive Christ’s forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. A few key points of chapter 2 is that Christ became flesh and blood so that He could save humanity from eternal death. And because Christ did this, He experienced temptation so He is able to “help those who are being tempted” (Heb. 2:18). This is a huge encouragement, that when we are tempted we have a Savior who can empathize with us because He has experienced our temptations in the same manner we experience them.

            In chapter 12, there is an encouragement and a pep talk for the believers to throw off everything that hinders them from Christ and sin, while fixing their eyes or keeping their focus on Christ who is the “pioneer and perfecter of faith” (Heb. 12:2). The letter continues on to discuss God’s discipline on His children, the believers, as a father disciplines his son. Christians accept God’s discipline as a way of being strengthened in their faith so that they can ministers to others who do not know the message of Christ yet.

Read Hebrews 12:14-17

            On the surface, it may be difficult to see this passage of scripture as an encouragement. The warning given here is that it can be easy to miss out on God’s grace and forgiveness if you do not continue to grow in faith. It is a warning to not let sin creep into a believer’s life because they could miss out on eternal life with Christ. It is an encouragement to those who are seeking God, growing in their faith, and having good relationships with the community of believers or the church. The peace in this passage of scripture focuses on the relational peace, which comes from the Greek word, “eirēnē” as mentioned in the first day of this study, with emphasis on having harmonious relationships between men (2). The next verse, 15 talks about making sure no one falls short of receiving God’s grace. This is a command to share the Gospel and to encourage other believers to continue in their faith. Having a church is important for one’s faith because of this very reason, to encourage one another in faith.

            As learned from previous days, our faith in Christ gives us a Spiritual peace. Peace that is rest, quietness, harmony, and even friendliness. But by looking at Hebrews, we learn that we cannot just accept Christ and His forgiveness and that is all that is needed to be done. Our faith is a relationship with Christ and relationships with any one grow or they fade away. They need continuous care. If you already work on your relationship with Christ regularly through His word, prayer, worship, and loving others then take this passage as a word of encouragement. If you haven’t been as consistent as you know you should or wish you were, take this opportunity to create a plan that helps you reconnect with Christ. That could include setting an alarm on your phone for a daily reminder, only listening to worship music in the car, start a journal.

           

If you need more consistency in your faith journey, what are the things in your life hindering you from your relationship with Christ, which gives you peace? If you are already consistent, is there someone you know that needs encouragement in their faith today? Is there someone you know that needs peace that only comes from a relationship with Christ?

1.Schenck, Kenneth. Jesus Is Lord!: an Introduction to the New Testament. Triangle Publishing, 2009.
2.Strong, James (2001). The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of The Bible: Red-letter Edition. Thomas Nelson.