Riddled Faith, Leaking Hope

Today's Reading: Hebrews 3 and 4

Scripture:

"Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience." Heb 4:11

Observation:

This is not the struggle of doing good in order to obtain salvation, nor is it a mystical struggle to overcome selfishness. It refers to making every effort to appreciate and benefit from what God has already provided. Salvation is not to be taken for granted; to appropriate the gift God offers requires decision and commitment.

(from Life Application Study Bible Copyright)

Application:

In reading Hebrews 3 and 4 this morning I am reminded that getting all of God that He desires for me to have begins with me hearing truth. The trouble with truth is that it often conflicts with my wants. I must continually position myself so that I have people around me who care enough about me to speak the truth of God to me. Once truth is hear it always falls to me to decide to act on it and be committed to sticking with it.

Truth that is heard is of no value if it is not mixed with faith. Faith is confidence in a truth that is not based on proof. I can spend all day everyday looking for proof and still not find it. I have to decide on the front-end that I believe God's truth is the best for my life. I have be willing to accept it and apply it to my life. Most of the time "I do not believe" is really just a code language for "I do not like."

Hope is the fuel of life. Once hope is dried up my motivation goes with it. The truth of God will ALWAYS produce hope. That does not mean I will always get my desired result. What is means is that being obedient to God will produce a hope that is a far greater result than anything of earthly value could ever offer. God desires that I live a life full of certain hope in the good things to come.

There is one final, inescapable truth before me this morning: I have to work this out. Work is a verb. It is active. It is tough. It requires endurance. It requires absorbing setbacks. It demands that I look into the teeth of the storms of life and deny them their goal of robbing me of the truth, of my faith and of my hope.

Prayer:

Father life on this earth can get nasty in a hurry. People make really horrible decisions and those decisions carry real, painful, and destructive consequences. Some of these I experience myself, others I see carried out in the lives of others, but the aftermath of both cases leaves my faith riddled with holes and my hope spilling out on the ground.

Holding firm to my belief is easy when things are as I desire them to be. It is an entirely different beast when things seem to make no sense. I pray that the truth You have so graciously offered me this morning seep in to the depths of my soul and accomplish its desired result.