Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13.

In yesterday’s passage the writer listed many people who have gone before us who lived by faith.  He begins today’s passage by referring to them as a “great cloud of witnesses.”  I see two ways to interpret what he means by calling them witnesses, both of those things affirm the resurrection from death.  First. he could be saying that they are witnesses to our actions and that we should act knowing that these people witness our every action.  Second, and probably more correctly, he may be saying that they are witnesses to the things in which we put our faith. As the writer says in chapter 11 “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” These witnesses have now seen that in which we place our faith.  Since we know that they have now seen that for which we hope we should everything which hinders us from seeking to follow that faith. especially sin.  I want to note that the writer is telling us that there are things which are not, in and of themselves, sins which hinder us from following Jesus.  We should remove those things from our life, while recognizing other believers might not be hindered by those things.  As we struggle against sin, we should be willing to accept God’s discipline, even up to death.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13.

I want to write about a couple of different elements in today’s passage, but I am not sure that what I write will link together.  At the beginning of today’s passage the writer tells us to focus our attention on imitating Jesus.  In doing so we will face opposition from those who refuse to accept righteousness, we should follow Jesus’ example and struggle against sin.  We should be willing to remain faithful even up to the point of facing death, just as Jesus did.  The hardships we face are God disciplining us as a father disciplines his son in order to develop his son into a better person.  God applies such discipline because He loves us, facing hardship provides us with evidence of God’s love.  Part of that struggle is striving to live in peace with everyone.  Interestingly, the writer links doing everything we can to live at peace with others to being holy.  As if we cannot be holy if we don’t do whatever is in our power to live at peace with others.  Of course, that link also creates a limit on what the writer thinks we should do in order to live at peace with others.  In particular, he does not, and tells us that God does not, expect us to do anything which is not holy in order to live at peace with others.  Which brings me to another thought: the areas where we fail at being holy are the areas where we fail to live at peace with others.  The final piece to focusing on Jesus, which will lead us to strive to be at peace with others and to be holy, is showing hospitality to strangers.  The writer reminds us that we never know what blessings we might receive when we show hospitality to strangers and we should be careful to never pass up such blessings.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13.

The writer tells us that hardship and suffering come into our lives as discipline from God.  The way I read this passage the writer is using discipline with both of its two possible understandings.  Under the first understanding, discipline means negative consequences in order to change bad behavior to good behavior.  In the second understanding, discipline means working hard in order to achieve greater things.  So, God disciplines us so as to help us learn to not do things which bring us bad results.  But He also disciplines us to make us stronger and better at doing good things, just as an athlete applies discipline in their training routine in order to get better at their sport.  As we face hardship and suffering let us embrace them as the means by which God both teaches us to avoid sin, which brings us harm, and strengthens us so that we may do good works with ever greater effect.  Such discipline is evidence that we are indeed God’s children.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13.

When the writer tells us that when we experience hardship we should view it as discipline from God, he is not telling us to look at it as punishment for doing wrong.  Rather, we should view it as an action which  strengthens our ability to do God’s will.  For example, a coach will have his players run laps in order to build up their discipline with no connection to anything they did wrong.  In the same way, God sometimes allows us to go through hardship to develop the discipline to live a godly life.  The writer tells us to strengthen our feeble arms and our weak knees so that the lame may be healed.  I am not sure what he is trying to say there, but he goes on to tell us to strive to live in peace with everyone and to be holy.  Then the writer tells us what it means to be holy: love one another, show hospitality to strangers, remember those in prison and those being mistreated, and be content with what you have.  The writer then gives us two quotes from the Old Testament which should give us all confidence and courage:

God will never leave us, nor will He forsake us

The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?

If we hold these two things close we will not fear, no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13.

As I read today’s passage there were several things which I thought worth mentioning.  We will see how many of them I fit into today’s Bible Study.  The passage begins with the writer referring back to the people of faith about whom he wrote in yesterday’s passage, people of whom the world was not worthy.  To explain how we should act he uses the metaphor of one running a race, such as in the Olympic competitions.  Just as those who wish to succeed in world class athletic competition need to have a great trainer, and need to do what that trainer directs them to do, so to do we need a great spiritual trainer if we want to succeed in the spiritual race in which we find ourselves.  Fortunately, in Jesus Christ we have such a spiritual trainer.  A trainer who has proven their merit as a trainer by winning the highest possible spiritual honor.  In order for a physical trainer to train someone to succeed they must sometimes disciple their trainee when the trainee falls short.   In the same way, God will discipline us when we fall short of the spiritual exercises which He gives us.  God’s discipline is not evidence that He has given up on us.  Rather, it is evidence of His love for us.  So let us accept God’s discipline with joy, since it represents an expression of His love for us.

As you may notice, I did not fit many of the ideas I mentioned at the beginning into this study.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hebrews 12-13

In chapter 11, which we read yesterday, the writer referred to the many people who did great things, and/or experienced great suffering and persecution because of their faith.  We should be inspired by those people to remove from our lives any thing, thought, or activity which interferes with living a life which pleases God.  Look at your life and get rid of anything which takes away from doing God’s will.  Each and every one of us only has so much time or energy.  Spend that time and energy doing things which show God’s love to others.  If you find yourself sinning, fill up more of your time with doing good and soon you will not have time to sin.  And never allow yourself to feel bitter about anything.  Instead view those negative things which tempt you to be bitter as God’s loving discipline designed to goad you to do better.

Later, as part of his wrap up of the letter, the writer tells us to show hospitality to strangers because sometimes those strangers are God’s messengers.  Paul wrote that we should love one another.  The writer here is reminding us that we do not necessarily know who is, and is not, a member of that “one another”.  Further, the blessings we receive from showing love to those who may never return that love greatly exceeds the cost to us of doing so.