March 22, 2023 | Be On Mission
Offer Jesus Godly
Living & Relationships
Scripture: Hebrews 13 (NIV)
1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
6 So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. 10 We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.
11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
17 Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.
18 Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. 19 I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon.
20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
22 Brothers and sisters, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for in fact I have written to you quite briefly.
23 I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you.
24 Greet all your leaders and all the Lord’s people. Those from Italy send you their greetings.
25 Grace be with you all.
Devotional
In this concluding chapter of Hebrews, the author summarizes the book’s purpose with a number of exhortations for the followers of Christ. These apply to us as well. Let’s take a look.
We are encouraged to show love and kindness to strangers, prisoners, and people who are mistreated (v. 1-3).
We are confronted to be pure in marriage and sexuality (v. 4).
We are prodded toward contentment and away from greed (v. 5).
We are commissioned to remember, imitate, have confidence in, and pray for our Christian leaders (v. 7, 17-19).
We are admonished to steer clear of unbiblical teachings (v. 9).
We are urged to be strengthened by the grace of God, not empty rituals (v. 9-10).
We are challenged to rely completely on Jesus, who is worthy of all our praise (v. 11-16).
Reflect on these exhortations. How will you commit to living these out in your own personal walk with Christ?
Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, we praise You for who You are. I ask you to forgive our shortcomings that we may be pure vessels for Your service. Help us, Lord, to see the pain of those who may be suffering. Help us be alert and in tune with the Holy Spirit to see those in need around us. Give us courage and wisdom to act when the Spirit moves us to act. Many are in need. Help us to be alert and sensitive to the urging of the Holy Spirit to act upon what we are led to do. Amen.
Poem
It
Hebrews 10-13
When I did IT,
I knew IT was wrong.
IT was against everything I had been taught as a child.
IT was dangerous.
IT was seductive.
IT was a turning point in my life, a turning away.
I remember inviting IT in.
I welcomed IT into my home, my temple.
I welcomed IT—the enemy.
I committed treason.
I was the Judas.
I took the forbidden fruit and savored IT.
As the juice ran down my chin,
I felt a stain.
I understood in the depths of my soul
Eve’s frantic search for a place to hide.
O, that the jungle of the world would swallow me up.
I heard the Lord’s footsteps.
He was calling my name.
“Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7)
I hid behind the spider’s web of lies,
only to get caught in sticky situations.
I hid behind the bush of appearances,
only to get stabbed by its thorns.
I ran to the cave of guilt and sat in its darkness,
only to find the hibernating bear of shame awaking from its winter’s nap.
Anything that happened that the world saw as “hard times,”
I viewed as justified punishment and curse from my Lord and Master.
Loruhamah—I will no longer have pity on your house.
Loammi—for you are not my people and I am not your God. (Hosea 1:6-8)
What shall I do with you? (Hosea 6:4)
“Forgive me, Lord,” I prayed in silence.
Silence returned.
Many saw my struggle.
“You have asked God to forgive you.”
“It’s over; it’s done.”
“Trust God’s eternal gift in Jesus Christ.”
But IT was not over.
IT was not done.
I felt the back of God—
God’s turning away from me.
I felt like an abandoned lover,
crawling through the mud after a relationship that could never be resurrected.
That relationship was what was over.
That relationship was what was done.
When the time of confession came in weekly corporate worship,
IT always vied for central attention.
IT shook the chains and tugged at the choking slave collar.
I wanted to run to the front and expose my shame,
to have IT publicly scandalized,
to beg for mercy.
Yet I remained shackled to my pew.
One day, a different setting
Here was an invitation to come forward.
Here was and invitation to come and be prayed for.
Here was an invitation to come and confess.
Did I dare come in my dirty sodden rags?
Did I dare speak the hidden IT?
Did I dare trust the priesthood of believers?
If I confessed IT, my sin,
and gave back the thirty pieces of silver,
would they release Jesus from the cross;
or would they laugh the cynical laugh of Caiphas and say,
“What is that to us? See to it yourself.” (Matthew 27:3-5)
I had to risk truth or commit spiritual suicide.
I was close to death any way;
what did I have to lose?
I knelt.
I bawled.
I spoke IT out loud.
I told the truth.
I felt hands on my head;
hands of the incarnate Christ.
I heard the words,
“In the name of Jesus Christ,
by the power of his blood
you are forgiven and clean.”
I felt chains fall.
I saw IT bound and led away.
“Who sinned?”
I heard the accuser, Lucifer
cry out in a last stitch effort
to justly free IT.
“This one or her parents?”
“Neither this one nor her parents sinned;
she was born blind
so that God’s works might be revealed
in her,” (John 9:2-3)
I saw my Lord and Lover’s smile.
He had returned to me.
“IT is finished,” he said.
“It is finished.”
My spoken truth
joined the Truth of God
and spoke into being
a new Creation.
A new Eden.
A new Life.
