Rebellion makes God angry as expressed in these words from Psalm 95. God does not look away from sin; he acts against it and punishes it. God grew angry because the people’s hearts always turned away from him. The people continually turned away from God in their actions, attitudes, thoughts, and beliefs. If the hearts of the people had honored God, they would have trusted God and entered the Promised Land. But their rebellion led to punishment. The Israelites lost their chance to enter the Promised Land when God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.”The lesson from Israel’s experience applies to all believers. The readers had not yet revolted against Christ or drifted away from him, but they were in danger of emulating Israel’s rebellion. The Israelites, who, with their own eyes, had seen great miracles from God’s hand, had fallen away from God. Christians must be careful not to fall into the same snare. No Christian is immune from turning away from or rejecting God. Sometimes people gradually drift - sometimes they rebel. We believers should carefully watch our Christian lives.
A safeguard against believers turning away from God is for them to warn each other every day. Believers should continually remind each other to turn away from sin and to stay focused on Christ. People cannot live as Christians in a vacuum. Christians need each other so that they don’t become deceived by sin and hardened against God.
There is no time while living on earth at which a Christian “arrives” at spirituality. Each day God’s people are making a choice either to grow closer to him or to drift away. For those who fail to believe, there is a stern warning to people who would be lazy in their spiritual life. Laziness can cause a person to fall into disobedience, and anyone who disobeys God . . . will fall. Today’s pressures make it easy to ignore or forget the lessons of the past. But the author cautions readers to remember the lessons the Israelites learned about God so they will avoid repeating the Israelites’ errors.
The word of God cannot be taken for granted or disobeyed. The word of God is living, life-changing, and dynamic as it works in us. The demands of the word of God require decisions. We not only listen to it, we let it shape our lives. Because the word of God is living, it applied to these first-century Jewish Christians, and it applies as well as to Christians today. Most books may appear to be dusty artifacts just sitting on a shelf, but the word of God collected in Scripture vibrates with life.
The word of God penetrates through our outer facade and reveals what lies deep inside. The metaphor of the sharpest knife pictures the word of God cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires, revealing what we really are on the inside. Nothing can be hidden from God; neither can we hide from ourselves if we sincerely study the word of God. It reaches deep past our outer life as a knife passes through skin.
With our lives laid bare before God, we would be hopelessly lost without Christ. Because he took our judgment and serves as our advocate with God, we can rest secure with God.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
The warning to NOT coast in my Christian life is a good one. I'm not sure how it happened, but today for many believers, especially in our area - perhaps it is a reaction to a strict up bringing or not fully understanding God - but so many believers today reject the idea of spiritual discipline. They reject the notion of spiritual growth and spiritual maturity.
My sense is that they reject these disciplines because they don't want to work for God's love. They don't want to feel compelled to read their bibles or pray or serve or have a ministry. Folks, we don't do any of these things so God will love us more. He already loves us as much as He ever is going to. We do these things because we love Him.
The idea that I just float and coast as a believer, flying in whatever direction the winds blows is the height of spiritual immaturity. It's time that we stop being spiritual babies. Its time to grow and become the people God has made us to be. It's time to get serious about God's plan and purpose. it's to to get serious about becoming a disciple. It's time to get serious about winning those who don't know Christ. Are you IN??? Let me know.
"By now you should have been teachers, but once again you need to be taught the simplest things about what God has said. You need milk instead of solid food. People who live on milk are like babies who don't really know what is right. Solid food is for mature people who have been trained to know right from wrong." Hebrews 5:12-14 (CEV)
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