November 2
Ezekiel 7-8
Psalm 119:81-88
Proverbs 26:16
Hebrews 10:19-39
Unwavering Hope
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Hebrews 10:23-25 NIV
This morning at church, my pastor preached about patience and perseverance as we wait in unwavering hope for the second coming of our Lord Jesus. Hope is the only answer for despair. If we focus our attention on the world around us the natural reaction is despair. There are very serious problems that seem to have no solution and no end in sight. Our hope cannot be in a cure for Covid or in whoever is in the White House. Our hope cannot rest on the end of racism or human trafficking or war. Those things are not going to end until Jesus returns and establishes His millennial kingdom. At that time, there will be peace on Earth. There will be no racism or classism. There will be no slavery, child abuse, murder, or rape. Human leaders cannot bring an end to those things. They will exist as long as Satan is roaming around the world prowling like a lion seeking to steal, kill and destroy everything that is good. Our hope is in Jesus Christ. He is faithful. He will not let us down. I don’t know when He is going to return, but I know that He is. And in the meantime, I know that He will take care of me. He will sustain me and help me deal with whatever comes my way. The passage gives us some pointers on how we can hold unswervingly to that hope.
We must remind ourselves repeatedly that He who promised is faithful. That requires that we focus our attention on Him. When Peter was walking on water to Jesus, when he kept his eyes on Jesus, he was able to stay above the waves, but as soon as he took his eyes off Jesus and looked around at the wind and waves, he began to sink. If our attention is focused on the state of the world, we will sink into despair and we will be overwhelmed by the waves. I have stopped watching the news all the time. Instead of keeping the TV on the news, I look at it on my phone once a day to catch the highlights and see what I need to know. I have taken my focus off it. I’m not putting my head in the sand and ignoring what is going on around me, but I am choosing to keep my eyes on the One who is ultimately in control instead of the ones who think they are in control. Next it says that we are to spur one another on toward love and good deeds. I am diligently trying to do this. I am trying to encourage and uplift instead of tearing down. I’m not always very good at it, but I am thinking about ways I can encourage others. Instead of focusing on my needs and wants, I’m trying to spend my time figuring out how I can help other people and encourage them to draw closer to God.
Finally, it tells us to not give up meeting together. While I am glad for the technology that allowed churches to deliver services every week during the pandemic, I think it was also a huge win for Satan. Watching a sermon online is not the same as gathering in the house of God for worship. Whatever we need to do to be able to meet together, we need to do. There is power in corporate worship. There is power in gathering together, opening God’s Word, and learning together. I understand why it was necessary for a time to meet online, but we need to be back in church now. We need each other. We were not meant to live our lives in a bubble. That is not how God designed us. Satan hates for us to go to church. He knows that where two or more are gathered together, God is in their midst, and he hates it. He will do whatever he needs to do to convince us not to go to church. If you feel more comfortable wearing a mask, that is totally fine. If you choose to go to the 8 o’clock service because there are fewer people, or if you choose to sit in the back by yourself and slip out before the end so that you don’t encounter a crowd, that’s fine. But go. This passage tells us to not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing. It encourages us to meet even more as we see the Day approaching. The Day is referring to the Day when He will come to take His children to be with Him, the rapture. When someone loses hope we are to come alongside them and lift them up. If we are together, we see when others are hurting, and we can recognize their needs. We realize when they are struggling, and we can help. It is difficult to be a community online. It is difficult to love each other from afar. There are a lot of hurting, lonely people who are in despair. They need us to see them and be willing to take the time to encourage and lift them up. Ask God to make you aware of those who need your encouragement and to protect you as you serve Him.
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