SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 03-05-03
My
Worship Time Focus:
Spiritual Progress Demands Diligent Effort
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Hebrews 6:11-12
Messages of the verses: “And we desire that each one of you show the
same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, that
you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience
inherit the promises.” (NASB) “Our great desire is that you will keep right
on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you
hope for will come true. Then you will
not become spiritually dull and indifferent.
Instead, you will follow the example of those who are to inherit God’s
promises because of their faith and patience.”
(NLT)
In order
to become diligent in the effort of spiritual progress we must have hope as the
writer says in verse eleven, “the full assurance of hope until the end.” I believe that the hope that he is writing of
is the hope of the return of Jesus Christ at the rapture of the Church. This hope is part of the spiritual progress
that believers must have because the Christian life is a marathon and not a
short race as Paul has described in his writings on this subject. He goes on with his instruction in verse
twelve where he says that believers are not to be sluggish, and this is the
same word used in 5:11 where it was translated as dull. Strong’s says this of this word: “slow, sluggish, indolent, dull, and languid.”
Solomon gives a story about this word in Proverbs 24: 30-34. “I passed by the field of the sluggard, And
by the vineyard of the man lacking sense; and behold, it was completely
overgrown with thistles, its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone
wall was broken down. When I saw, I
reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction. ‘A little sleep, a
little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest,’ then your poverty will
come as a robber, And your want like an armed man.” The writer goes on to encourage the believers
by giving a preview of what he will write on in chapter eleven, the great
chapter on faith, where he instructs the believer to be “imitators of those who
through faith and patience inherit the promises.” If you look back at the story in the OT that
the writer has been using as an example you can see that he could be referring
to Caleb and Joshua, the only two people who enter the rest of the promise land
of all those who came out of Egypt.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As I look at the stories that are alluded to
in the book of Hebrews and how the original people in these stories did not do
the things that the Lord wanted them to do I can learn from their
experiences. As I live my life each day
there are different things that happen to me and I have a choice on how to
handle these incidents by acting on faith and praying to the Lord to give me
strength to get through them knowing that my Heavenly Father only allows things
to come into my life to cause me to grow in my walk with Him so that I will
become more like Jesus Christ, or I can try to handle them on my own, which is
what I do far to often.
The
Word of God has brought wonderful instruction and conviction to me, along with
a challenge to live by faith. The just
shall live by faith.
My
Steps of Faith Today: To
trust the Lord in all of the things that He allows to come into my life today,
knowing He is in control, and that He loves me so much that He sent His only
Son to become sin for me and to die for my sins on the cross.
Memory verses for the week:
Psalms 40:1-3
- I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me and heard
my cry.
- He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry
clay; and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.
- And He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
many will see and fear, and will trust in the LORD.
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