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THEME: What we are reminded them in both chapters is to rest in Your provision, even when that provision is not immediately apparent. Peter tells his audience to rest in You, even when they are being persecuted. The psalmist says he rests in Your love like a weaned child in his mother's arms, not being fed at the moment but still resting.

PRAISES: Thank You that You build our faith, as Peter says, the difficult times when provision and protection are not immediately apparent. Thank You that You provide us rest in You, like the unusually solid nights' sleep You have been giving me recently. Thank You that the development of our character is so important to You that You will not allow material concerns to distract from it.

APPLICATIONS: You use difficult times according to Your precise discretion to test and strengthen our faith. (Verses 1-9) Peter begins his letter with a reminder that You are in control. It is a matter of circumstantial fact that his audience is scattered from where they would like to be. Even so, they are the elect according to Your plan decided far in advance. As they are stretched by their circumstances, Your grace and Your peace are not depleted but are MULTIPLIED, experienced in even more abundant quantities as they suffer. Again, Your mercy is ABUNDANT, and the experience of Yours in it so radical that they are begotten again. He continues to lay the foundation of Your goodness with a reminder that the promises that his audience will inherit from You are incorruptible, out of reach of any of today's trials.

In that, rejoicing in that, and keeping it in mind, what are today's difficulties that only last for a little while? In light of all his fellow believers have been given, these trials could be withstood as a temporary aberration. But, even better, Peter says that they are part of a plan, Your plan to show the genuineness of the radical faith and is in them and will be revealed for the world at the coming of Jesus Christ. They have the chance, for a brief season, to develop and show love for Him whom they have not seen, rebutting the accusation of Satan in reference to Job that Yours only love You because of what You do for them day by day.

Where are You stretching our faith? Where have You, in a purposeful plan, not yet brought all things in subjugation to Your Son that we might believe before we see? Your provision is so abundant in my life right now in so many areas that this is actually a challenging question. I think the area where I am being challenged, and perhaps others with me in the relatively prosperous and free West, is whether we simply soak in Your blessings or give them away for eternal blessings that are incorruptible. As You continue to challenge me here, I would ask that you show me specifically, in unity with my wife, how we can give ourselves and our stuff away. Where would You have us do this to a radical degree BEFORE You bring a job to pass for her and BEFORE You bring to pass a baby who could be the excuse for all sorts of hoarding? How light and momentary is the "sacrifice" of being able to take less security in the amount of our savings compared to the actual persecution experienced by Peter's audience and still experienced by their heirs today around the world? It hardly counts in a world where only the truly wealthy have any savings at all. We know that You desire that we save for the future, and we also know that You will be a debtor to no man and will meet and exceed our needs now and in the future. Show us today, Father, just how far to step out in faith in that.

Staying in Your Word can help us win the battle of our minds between momentary gratification and step-by-step purification. (Verses 10-16) Peter specifically reminds his Hebrew audience that the prophets foresaw the suffering of Christ even as they only understood bits and pieces of Your plan. Suffering is not, he reminds them, some random permutation of a world out of control. Your plan for Your world revealed in Your Word shows that suffering in the short-term brings forth eternal benefits. Your Word shows that even Christ went through 40 days in the desert with that Word on His mind when Your provision was deliberately not evident. That Word shows that Christ suffered despising the shame FOR THE JOY THAT WAS SET BEFORE HIM. The crucifixion itself was foretold centuries before in Psalm 22, and the specific suffering of Christ in Isaiah 54. Peter implores, I think, that if You measured out specifically the suffering of Your own Son for Your plan of redemption and Your greatest glory, are You not likewise in control of the trials that great them today?

Where are You shining the light of Your Word into our lives and looking for a surrender? Where are we holding on to pride, or self-pity, or both, believing that we have a right to dictate to You? I can apply this for others, and particularly for one friend who wants nothing to do with You because he did not see You intervene and a particularly painful time and because You would just be "tagging along" in the life he has rebuilt and deserves credit for. Obviously, even a few minutes in Your Word each day would destroy such a castle of self-justification, and it is little wonder that he does not want to hold himself up to such accountability. You will win that battle and reveal Yourself, but even each of us who are saved and are less openly rebellious have at least one area of our lives that You are laying siege to. Keep us in Your Word as the specific conviction of the Holy Spirit uses that Word to bring Your power to bear on whatever we thought was our excuse or our corner to be quarantined from Your purposes. Guide pastors in every Scripture they choose and each and every Word they utter tomorrow that You might use these to gird our minds for the bringing down of strongholds in our lives.

In the light of the precious price that was paid for us, there is no place for aimless living. (Verses 17-25) Peter reminds his audience that the life they now live was not purchased for them with silver and gold, simply a forestalling of accountability to You. He reminds them that the lives they now live were purchased with the blood of Jesus and that they are now wholly owned by You. Because of this, they are now called to live with a purpose, Your purpose, and to make deliberate choices knowing that they will be accountable to You.

Since we are not redeemed for aimless living, where would You have us to focus today? Where have we been settling for standards short of those by which our works will be judged? One of the writers that C. S. Lewis quoted in Mere Christianity said that You are easy to please but hard to satisfy. In light of that, help us to EXPECTED progress in our lives toward Christ-likeness when we compare last year to this year, last month to this month, and yesterday to today. Help us to find the balance possible only in You between living in the easy rhythms of Your grace and pressing forward with determination toward the mark of the high calling of Christ Jesus. May that be evident, Father, in our smallest and most seemingly insignificant choices today.

THEME: Both of these chapters call for a focused expectation in waiting for You rather than fixating on our current circumstances.

PRAISES: Thank You that You are returning to set all things right. Thank You that You hear the cries of even the lowest people on this earth. Thank You that You warned those of us to whom You have entrusted this world's goods to use them for Your glory and for the benefit of others.

APPLICATIONS: Focusing on accumulating this world's goods rather than building up others is a decision we will regret in eternity. (Verses 1-6) James is particularly emphatic here. Apparently at least some of those he influences have used Your blessings to entrench themselves in riches and to take advantage of the poor. James says that You are not fooled. He says that those who tried to protect themselves with riches rather than dealing at least fairly with the poor are going to be punished.

Is our emphasis on the people that You have made in Your image, or is it on the status we can obtain? Looking at this text, it is hard to come to any decision other than to sow generously into that which will outlast us, in this season that being the opportunity to put a big down payment on a church building where others who cannot afford such an investment will be fed. What is our other choice? To keep out gold and silver in the bank, where James says it will be corroded? No thanks. Give us, and those facing similar choices in our flock and around the world a clear notion of our eternal accountability and opportunity to be a part of what lasts, even in this world that is passing away.

We can do everything in light of the fact that You are standing at the door and are ready to return. (Verses 7-12) Keeping in sight the immediate return of Christ, James says, can change our choices. This frame of mind can change how we invest our time and our energy, like the farmer and his seed. He knows that the rain is coming that will show the results of his work, and we know the same thing about the reign of Christ that is coming and will reveal the results of our work. Realizing the immediacy of the return of Christ can keep us in Your Word, chewing on the examples of the prophets who persevered just as James suggests. Keeping in mind the immediacy of the return of Christ can even change the minutia of our conversations, keeping our words simple because we know that we will give account for them and that we can control very little of that which we speak of.

This might be the day that Christ returns, so how will it be different because of that fact? Like the farmer, I want to sow my seed generously so that we can reap generously after You do what only You can to produce the harvest. Because Christ could return at any moment, I want to be found in the Word, emulating the examples of the faithful found there rather than distracted by the pleasures of the moment. Even as I leave this part of my day concentrated on Your Word, bring it to my mind and make my devotions with my wife later in the day more than a pro forma exercise. This, James says, is the only way to be ready for what is to come. My words, Father, which are carefully chosen and You-centered here, are either going to point to myself or to You for the rest of the day. Give me, of grand sentences and sometimes-impressive vocabulary, a heart for simplicity in my speech before You and before others.

Knowing how our words can wander, we can deliberately focus them for Kingdom impact. (Verses 13-20) Again, You are showing me that there is no neutral. Instead of snapping a rubber band on our rest every time we say something that does not glorify You, what James calls for is deliberately focusing the power of speech on those things which WILL glorify You. Our prayers while suffering will glorify You. Our songs to You while joyful will glorify You, whether or not we can sing. In the face of particular sickness, our words can be used to ask for intercession and to grant it for our brothers and sisters whose bodies are under attack. Our temporal words, James reminds us, can have an eternal impact. They can win back brothers and sisters who are struggling with sin. They can, like Elijah's, even impact forces of nature by Your grace and Your power.

Wasted words, anyone? Why would we? There is so much good that can be done with every breath. Are we to prideful to cry out to You, even out loud, when life hurts? If so, we miss a chance to have a lasting impact with our words. The Israelites in Judges cried out to You, even under just punishment, and You heard. Are we in a season of life where Your goodness is very apparent, like the one I am in now, and yet are arrogant enough not to return thanks to You IMMEDIATELY because we think this will continue in perpetuity? Forgive us, Father. Make us like the one Samaritan leper who returned to Jesus in the Gospel of Luke to give thanks. Where all things, like physical illnesses or disabilities, have not yet been brought into subjugation to Your power, have we gotten so used to them that we no longer ask You to heal us and asked others to join us in that prayer? I have grown here, and ask nearly every week for Your healing power to touch me that others might believe. Keep me persevering, then, because one day wheelchairs will no longer be needed and all anxiety and depression will disappear. Teach us to think and to speak in the light of that, understanding that even forces of nature that seemed so overwhelming today are under Your authority.

THEME: Between them, the two chapters revealed that we go to the world seeking friendship and comfort but invariably receive persecution that we need Your protection from.

PRAISES: Thank You that Your Truth reveals the end of our divided efforts from the beginning. Thank You that when the world does mistreat us, You are our Defender. Thank You that You do not tolerate some kind of truce in us with the world but jealously desire first place in our lives as our Creator.

APPLICATIONS: A relationship with You is an all-in commitment. (Verses 1-6) James points out that because there is a competition for our loyalties, we are often divided and miserable. He says that the effort of our desires to master us impacts not only our lives but the relationships around us. Those who desire a peaceful coexistence between satisfaction in the world and in arrangement with You on their terms are going to be disappointed.

Where are we trying to make a deal with You? What do we desire more than total surrender to You? The goals we chase may be worthwhile, or they may be so shameful that we do not express them, but ANYTHING we desire more than broken acknowledgment of Your sovereignty over our lives is an idol that You will not tolerate. Where my thoughts wander into job success, even though that means helping people, and away from You, remove that. Where my family goals, even the most wholesome and pleasing to my wife, are paramount and You are simply a Tool to achieve them, reshape my heart. Where my thoughts wander into any other kind of earthly gratification and away from You, remove that. I want no rival to You, and that one to live the kind of sold-out life that will encourage others to be drawn into the same unrivaled relationship with You.

This is a battle that You WILL win. Francis Chan in Crazy Love describes this as loving when he writes, "If God is truly the greatest good on this earth, would He be loving us if He did not draw us toward what is best for us, even if that happens to be Himself? Doesn't His courting, luring, pushing, calling, and even threatening demonstrate His love? If He didn't do all of that, wouldn't we accuse Him of being unloving in the end when all things are revealed? The greatest good on this earth is God. Period. God's one goal for us is Himself." Help us, then, to surrender without a fight.

We have too much to repent of in our lives to treat life flippantly or to spend it judging others. (Verses 7-12) James reminds us that, as good as You are, and as much as we have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, there is a place for brokenness before You. Putting this foundation first, realize the depravity of our sin and are in no position to judge anyone else. In divine irony, if we seek brokenness and discipline before You rather than our own short-term happiness, James says that You will lift us up and drawn near to us. Mourning is not a permanent state but a part of Your purifying and edifying process. From there, we can be leaders who walk with a limp who are quick to approach others caught in sin with humility.

Are we willing, then, to let our laughter be turned to tears for a season? In this culture that expects to be permanently entertained and will be drugged into happiness if necessary, that choice goes against the grain. Anything that would call for sober self-examination and, gasp, change must be psychologically unhealthy, many of our experts would say. But that's why we come daily into Your Word and learn to welcome the conviction of Your Holy Spirit, because we would rather see YOU draw near to us and lift us up for eternity than to settle for temporary distractions here. Help us to be like You and to draw near to those who are broken or who are in the breaking-down process rather than shunning them. Give us, give me, opportunities to reflect Your compassion as we get to serve You today in a Thanksgiving ministry opportunity. My usual eagerness to make a place for myself in ministry, whether compassion, or pride, or both, will have to be sidelined because of the logistics of this location. Therefore, I trust that You will bring Your will to pass as I am mildly inconvenienced for the sake of others. If nothing else, help me to use the opportunity to draw back and to intercede for my wife as she, perhaps, is the one You want to shape in active ministry opportunities today.

Both what we will do tomorrow and the results are up to You. (Verses 13-17) James blasts those who would say what they are going to do over the next year and what the results will be. He suggests submitting the agenda to You specifically in how we speak. In what I had not noticed before, he keeps us from adding "if the Lord wills" as some sort of magic formula to our own desires because in the sanctified way of looking to the future, projecting certain results is entirely eliminated.

How will it change our outlook if we recognize anew just how dependent upon You we are? If we look into Your Word and recognize that our lives are but a vapor? James thinks that this realization will make us more humbly obedient because we will recognize our accountability to You. Judging others is out of the question when we understand that we are sinning if we do not do ALL that we know to do. Recognizing this in the abstract can allow us to look into the mirror of Your Word, as James says elsewhere, and go away unchanged. Instead, Father, give us specific convictions for the small changes You are working in us that one day can bring. Remind us, Father, what we know to do and what we CAN do by Your power.

THEME: In both chapters, good fruit is expected. James warns us, however, that we can easily get on the wrong track and need to be constantly watchful that the quality of our lives reflects You.

PRAISES: Thank You that You put us in a position by Your grace to have an impact beyond ourselves. Thank You that You make us aware of the impact of our words and the opportunity we have in them to reflect You. Thank You that You give us wisdom that can actually bless others rather than diminish them.

APPLICATIONS: As You grant us influence, we must guard our words carefully because one wrongly spoken can have a big impact. (Verses 1-9) James says that small things can have a big impact. He uses analogies like a rudder turning a ship or a bridle turning a horse to show that our tongue can do much to determine our direction. As if this were not sobering enough, James compares the tongue to a spark that can set a forest fire ablaze, warning that our tongues can have a devastating impact far beyond our own lives.

Will our words be under Your control today? These are measured in an hour of quiet reflection and directly based on Your Word. After that, keeping discipline to my words so that they are Your words becomes much more difficult. In fact, James says that no amount of human ingenuity can tame our tongues. This means that we need YOU to place a guard at our mouths as David asks for in one of the Psalms. When I am tempted to react in the moment, make my words slow to come and my silent prayers quick to ask for You to speak through me or for no words to be uttered. For those who have taken on the role of biblical teacher as a vocation, give them a sense of Your discipline as they, hopefully, start their day with personal time in Your Word. Guide my pastor in particular, as his words can do much to light and spread enthusiasm for wider opportunities to spread Your Word OR to divert our focus to the church-as-usual focused on building up and enriching itself with building programs and the like. I do not think my pastor, with his exceptionally evangelistic heart, is particularly vulnerable to this. Even so, if building the church as a kind of earthly kingdom was an issue at least from Dante's day to this, focus on guarding against it cannot be wasted.

The sincerity of our praises to You comes into question if we also use our mouths to curse people. (Verses 9-12) James is calling his audience on the double life often exemplified by their speech. They believe that they can take religious pride in the praises to You that they utter and meanwhile speak as they would like about each other. James is bold in reminding his audience that those people they speak against, those very imperfect people, are a reflection of You their Creator. Cursing others, he says, with the same mouth that praises You is like bitter water coming from the same well that produces sweet water or bad fruit coming from the same tree that produces good fruit. If this happens, as James says it should not, the source will not be trusted.


Are we so consistent in praising You and the You in others that the world will look to us for good fruit and living water? I cannot claim to be. I, like Peter in the Gospels, am fully capable of proclaiming You for Who You are in one breath and speaking against Your plan or Your people in the next. If my words that other people partake of are to taste of You consistently, there must be fewer of them. They must have taken the time to grow and ripen connected to You rather than be plucked at my whim or left for others to pluck with provocation. Focus me and any I influence, Father, on so consistently overflowing with Your praise that there is little time or energy left to make comparisons of Your individual human creations to what we think they ought to be.

Even as You give us words and answers, we can carry them and ourselves meekly. (Verses 13-18) James says that there is a qualitative difference when answers come from You and when they come from the world. When we carry out instructions from You, James says that we do so, to use his paradigm-shifting phrase, in the meekness of wisdom. What does this meekness, power under control, look like? It is so different from anything that the world produces that James gives us a checklist to verify that what we have is the real thing. Wisdom and words from You are pure, peaceable, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality or hypocrisy.

When we are quiet enough to wait for Your answer, even then does it come out of our mouths in this way? I'm afraid not. I'm afraid that if we have an answer from You, our pride swells and our voice hardens, we perversely believe we have a license to be a jerk because we are hearing from You and, automatically, anyone else we are dealing with is not. Keep us, Father, from such a spirit. Help us to see You at work in the most unlikely, listening actively for Your words just as we look actively for Your character on display in the lives of those we are tempted to criticize.

THEME: Both chapters show that we can leave a legacy of Your faithfulness, the psalmist showing this in our families and James showing it through the examples of Abraham and Rahab.

PRAISES: Thank You for the faith You impart to us which cannot be inherited. Thank You that You have grafted us into Abraham's line and allowed us to inherit blessings with his children. Thank You for the fraternity of the undeserving we can have with other believers drawn by Your grace, blessing them as You have blessed us.

APPLICATIONS: How we treat the poor shows our regard for You. (Verses 1-10) Again, James is challenging his readers to determine where their security and status are. Even gathering in worship of You, he says that they can be looking out for their own temporal benefit in how they treat the wealthy or the poor. He offers that showing respect for the poor is actually showing respect for You, much more to their benefit than any connection they can make with the temporarily powerful.

We can see ALL people as You see them, then. As we look at the rich and the poor today, the put together and the askew, we can see Your purposes in each life and in our encounter with each life. We can recognize that only Your grace, rather than our intrinsic worth, separates us from absolute destitution before You. Help me to see clients differently, then. Help all of us to see the needs that surround the body of Christ and to meet them aggressively and in a way that affirms that You have a plan for each life. As the food pantry at church was nearly empty yesterday morning because of the demand, fill it to overflowing as people come with temporal hunger and have the opportunity to lead eternally fulfilled with the Gospel as well as with their physical needs met.

An imagined hierarchy of sinners is just as irrelevant as our earthly social status. We ALL need heaping helpings of Your grace. (Verses 10-13) James makes the point that even those who offend Your Law simply by looking down on others have broken it in every way. One sin, James says, puts a person at odds with You, and even pride in not sinning in particular way can do this.

Do we see ourselves as good people who need a little of Your help once in awhile or as the chief of sinners desperately in need of Your grace? How we answer that question is going to have a dramatic impact on how we look at and get involved in the lives of others. C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity puts the importance of how "well" we see ourselves just as starkly as James. He says, "If you are a nice person -- if virtue comes easily to you -- beware! Much is expected from those to whom much is given. If you mistake for your own merits what are really God's gifts to you through nature, and if you are contented with simply being nice, you are still a rebel: and all those gifts will only make your fall more terrible, your corruption more complicated, and your bad example more disastrous. The Devil was an archangel once; his natural gifts were as far above yours as yours are above those of the chimpanzee."

"But," he says and James would agree, "if you are a poor creature -- poisoned by wretched up-bringing in some house full of vulgar jealousies and senseless quarrels -- saddled by no choice of your own, do not despair." Lewis says that God, "knows all about it. You are one of the poor whom He blessed. He knows what a wretched machine you are trying to drive. Keep on. Do what you can. One day, (perhaps in another world, but perhaps far sooner than that) He will fling it in the scrap heap and give you a new one. And then you may astonish us all -- not least yourself: for you have learned your driving in a hard school."

Real faith is going to make a difference in how we live. (Verses 14-27) James says that simply saying we believe in You is not enough. That faith must impact our action. He reminds us that even the Demons believe there is only One God but that this does not save them. He says that faith prompts us to feed the poor, clothe the naked, and like Rahab put ourselves at risk for the Kingdom. Genuine faith works its way out Word into our choices and our actions.

Where are You challenging us to live out our faith today? I can congratulate myself for hearing that call yesterday and committing some of the resources that You have given me to help build a food pantry, but Lewis says I am in danger in that state, seeing following You in the opportunities that You give me as something I can be proud of. Instead, show me and any I influence where we need You in order to grow stronger and live more boldly in faith TODAY. Show us where we are failing to live differently than the world. Francis Chen in Crazy Love writes, "Having faith often means doing what others see as crazy. Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers." Show us, then, our opportunities to do what does not make sense to the world.

THEME: The common emphasis is on deliberately filling our hearts and our mouths with gratitude to You.

PRAISES: Thank You that there is so much good about You to focus on. Thank You for taking the time to so carefully bring out many of the best qualities of Yourself in us. Thank You that our words can be a testimony to You even today.

APPLICATIONS: When going through trials, we are to doubt our doubt rather than doubt You. (Verses 1-8) James advises that his readers step back from the current difficulties that have them scattered from their homeland. He says that they can trust Your purposes to build in them a character that reflects You. He says that when they waiver, rather than growing distant from You, they should ask You directly to give them the wisdom to see what You are doing.

We can do this, only because we have the same Source of perseverance that was available to this group. Rather than seeing today's events as random or as directed by self-centered humans, we can recognize that they are directed by You for our eternal benefit and Your eternal glory. If it seems as though our weak spots are being exposed, this is Your work rather than anything that would lead to our demise. Even these times of seeming vulnerability can strengthen us in the moment because we can turn directly to You, asking for perspective from One Who will give it to us liberally and without reproach. Father, give me the candor to continue to ask. I asked the first time I read through this. I ask again. Help me to continue to ask as I face today's problems and opportunities to give glory to You. Do not let me or any I influence be so swallowed up by any situation that we let an opportunity pass to communicate with You in the middle of it.

Your character is the only lasting part of our experience today. Neither material blessings nor circumstantial difficulties will last. (Verses 9-18) To the scattered people who have likely been separated from much of their wealth, James issues a reminder that the worldly wealth they miss would not have lasted anyway. The possessions of the wealthy man will burn away, he says, like a flower in the scorching sun. But the good news is that the trials that Yours experience are likewise not permanent. Behind both the getting and losing of this world's goods, he says, is Your sovereign plan to develop our character into the likeness of Yours.

Drinking deeply of this Truth, we can live for what lasts. We can look into Your Word and praise You that it has lasted through the centuries while the elite of a given society have risen and fallen as has the wealth that has "secured" them in this position. Knowing, then, that wealth is temporary but that what You can do with it is permanent, help us to make a Kingdom decision with how we spend the time and money that You give us. In particular, help my family, broadly and narrowly defined, to give a sacrifice that it's pleasing to You with respect to the opportunity we have to move into a bigger church building that will give more the opportunity to be blessed.

Receiving Your Word should impact what we say and what we do. (Verses 19-27) James is stern in saying that hearing the Word is not enough. Directly because You are consistent in Your character, we should be consistent in ours. Because You are in us, we can be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. Because You are in us, we can make a proactive difference in the world, even its most unseemly quarters. Because You are in us, we can do this while being unspotted by the world.

How would You change our words and our actions today? Help us to pause long enough, being quick to listen even when there are no words, that we can discern Your purpose in a given situation. We know that, as John Piper said, our anger is strong enough to devour our other emotions. As such, keep us from such self-centered self-destruction. Help us to deliberately focus on other people, even and especially those on the periphery of our lives such as the widows and orphans we can so easily pass by. Help us to make a difference in the lives of the least of these today, because we may not pass this way again.

THEME: The common element in both chapters is the care You put into the human rulers that are over us. Hebrews says that they are chosen for the job and that we should honor them and make their jobs as easy as possible. The psalmist concurs that You will not allow authority to rest with the wicked for very long.

PRAISES: Thank You that You are King of kings and Lord of lords and will outlast and outrank every human authority from the best to the worst. Thank You that out human relationships, from those with authorities, to those with colleagues, to those to whom we share hospitality, can reflect You. Thank You, on the Sabbath, for those over us who teach Your Word and for the heavy responsibilities they take on.

APPLICATIONS: We can handle relationships and material goods in a way that shows our ultimate reverence for You. (Verses 1-6) As he closes, the author of Hebrews wants to make sure that the concept of Jesus as our high priest does not remain simply an academic subject. He says that this Truth should impact the way we relate to other people in close quarters and the way in which we handle the stuff that You give us. We will be hospitable not because it is customary, and in our day this has largely been forgotten anyway, but because the day-to-day dealings we have touch eternity. We will not be governed by our physical passions but honor You with them because we are accountable to You for how we handle this gift. Even material goods, the author says, compete for our hearts and can rob our trust in You. Because of this, he says to guard against coveting.

Are You unchallenged on the throne of our hearts? Teach us how to show this even in peripheral relationships with strangers and acquaintances, recognizing that even the most ordinary greeting or act of hospitality can be something extraordinary in Kingdom reckoning. Help us to guard our hearts and the deepest passions within them, recognizing that You have constructed us to discern carefully the connections we make at that level. I ask for this discernment in particular for a friend of mine who is seeking Your will for the future of a romantic relationship and wants no rival to You. As we are surrounded by the material and see the spiritual as somehow less "real" in spite of the fact that Hebrews says the reverse is true, keep us from coveting security here in the wealth that passes through our hands. Guide my wife and I, and the congregation we are a part of, as decisions need to be made with respect to a building large enough to accommodate the growth that You are bringing. May You provide for this WITHOUT distracting our focus from teaching and making disciples.

We can recognize Your grace to us inside the camp of the religious faithful and outside of it. (Verses 7-17) The author of Hebrews begins and ends this section reminding his charges to be mindful of the spiritual authorities that You have placed over them. His call is for watching them carefully, obeying them, and submitting to them. But Christianity is not simply an "intramural" activity that can be completed within the walls of the church. Just as Christ bore our reproach outside of the camp, we must take His message outside of the bounds of those who already know and deal with rejection. The religious language of praising You is sweet, but this author is not satisfied with that. He wants to see his people doing good as a result of the difference that You make.

Will our activities inside the camp on this Sunday make a difference outside of it in the rest of the week? So fill us with a sense of Your grace that we cannot help but share. Fill our mouths with praises to You that are reflected in our actions and our transactions. Even inside our community of faith, help us to put to death our own selfish desires by submitting to the authorities that You have put in place to watch out for our souls.

Your plan is that we continue to grow as intercessors and as workers for Your Kingdom. (Verses 18-25) Even after going into deep theological issues, the author of Hebrews was to make sure that his audience knows to pray for him. This is not assumed, it is asked for. He also casts the vision, reminding them that they are provided for to be complete in every good work. The life they are called to is not simply one of solitary contemplation but one where good works attest to You.

How can we grow deeper, Father? Quicken us to join in the battles that our spiritual leaders face by waiting in prayer to envision what You would have us specifically to ask for. On the way to church, when I am most focused on what matters and least distracted by the beckoning television, I can sense Your words coming out of my mouth, especially on behalf of those in leadership at church. As their battles are especially hot right now, help me to sequester time during the week to intercede for them in more than just a token way. Help me, and help us all, to seek You for specific ways in which You would have us to grow in good works. The harvest is here around us, and the season to gather it in may be drawing to a close. Help us, drive us, not to be content with where we were yesterday in You.

THEME: Both chapters use a metaphor of a snare, suggesting both the subtlety and seriousness of the enemy's attacks. Both authors, though, counter with a focus on You that they are confident will protect them.

PRAISES: Thank You that, combined with Hebrews 9, Your Word teaches that we can move in confidence without obsessing over the enemy's tricks. Thank You that You allow us to lay aside what would weigh us down and rob us from the joy of doing Your will. Thank You that we can be confident that Christ and those who have gone before us are encouraging us in the race we run.

APPLICATIONS: Joy in You and an emotional passion to pursue Your best is at the root of any spiritual discipline we can exercise. (Verses 1-11) When Paul says in 1 Corinthians that we can have the mind of Christ, the author of Hebrews gives us an intimate glimpse into what was on His mind and in His heart as He endured a trial greater than anything we would face. Robotic, wrote obedience to a prearranged plan was not His way. Hebrews says that Christ followed Your will for the JOY that was set before Him. This author also says, without contradiction, that Christ DESPISED the shame of sin.

Do we attempt to follow the Way without tapping into the new heart that generates such intense emotions? I'm afraid we do. Much worse, I'm afraid that we judge other followers of You who get too emotional, either in pursuing the joy that is set before them or in despising sin. Forgive us, Father, for thinking we can go through the motions outwardly successful without giving all that we are down to our emotional core to You. Where You have created or re-created us to live passionately and we have stifled that, forgive us, and give expression to the groanings of our spirits to express Your glory that are so visceral the rocks may cry out if we remain silent. Where, by nature or by long habit, we are cool and analytical, protect us from the condemnation of the enemy or those he uses and grow in us a language of careful, considered phrases to You that You will treasure.

Only by seeing a relationship with You as our most desirable end can we successfully fight temptation. (Verses 12-24) The author of Hebrews calls for a focused, disciplined, exercised pursuit of Your best. Why? It seems that he knows we will be pursuing something. If we, like Esau lose sight of how good Your literal blessing is, we will trade it for the things that can satisfy our immediate needs and wants. If we respond to an enlarged, and humbling, awareness of Your holiness by backing away rather than drawing closer like the children of Israel, our craving for material abundance and variety will overtake out craving for more of You. The author of Hebrews says the antidote for this is to keep in mind what You have in store for us that outshines any present temptation, a literal, physical Heaven of perfect provision and fellowship, made perfect because You are there and also expressing its perfection through the sanctified humans You created.

Which are we more attracted to today? Which do we talk about? Which do we spend money for? Because we battle with our flesh, the soup for which Esau sold his birthright will always seem attractive. But if we stay in Your Word and focus on what You show us of Yourself AND that physical future that You have for us for which we were created, we will not be distracted. We will be willing to exercise discipline because the reward will be SO much more than anything we give up along the way. Sharpen our focus, Father. May our direction and our affections be so different today, Father, that even those who have settled for making themselves experts in Esau's portion will crave what we have.

By staying in Your Word, we can receive correction and respond to it in love for You. (Verses 25-29) The author of Hebrews advises us not to take Your love for granted. He said in the previous section that Esau recognized what he had given up, but that it was too late. Using the parallel of a human father, these verses say that if we respond respectfully to human authority, how much more should we respect Yours that will last forever?

Do we recognize the upheaval that is coming and the warnings that You give us as our Father? How many things do we chase in our thoughts and actions that are going to be entirely uprooted as You establish Your authority permanently? Redirect, Father, our affections and our sense of purpose for the day that You grant us to remain. Renew in us the holy fear that is so absent from this culture but so necessary in light of the judgment to come.

THEME: The challenge this morning is, are we looking to the powers of the moment, or to the hand of the Master?

PRAISES: Thank You that Your hand is visible, even to us. Thank You that You give us examples of human beings the wavering faith like ours who even so acted in faith and are reckoned as faithful by You. Thank You that we have the same opportunity to leave a legacy of faithfulness for those who come behind us.

APPLICATIONS: Seeing a homeland not defined by a earthly constraints is going to impact how we live today. (Verses 1-16) The author of Hebrews says that the heroes of the faith make the decisions they did not because they did not want good things from You but because they wanted better than this world could contain. They were not simply moving AWAY from the fleeting and the mediocre but TOWARD tangible rewards that really last.

Do we have that kind of vision, and can we see You for more clarity there? Where we see Heaven as something vague and less than intently desirable, our actions will reflect ambivalence as we spend at least part of our energy chasing after the rewards we see. But if we see the "other country" of Heaven as that in which we were truly designed to experience the most real pleasure and anything else as a cheap imitation, we will choose differently. We will live like we are leaving, because we are. Our footprint on this world will not be measured in how much stuff we have or a how far we climbed up the ladder of secular rank. We will look toward, instead, how many hands we were able to put in Yours, and how many downcast eyes we were able to lift up to see the real and abundant life ahead. In a day that presents MANY challenges, help me to reserve part of my attention for what is ahead and what will outlast them.

The impact of our emotions is not that the impulses arise but in whether we act on them or in faith. (Verses 17-29) The text actually says that Moses did not fear Pharaoh. When his one deed of rebellion was discovered, he ran to the other side of the desert for 40 years. You had to reassure him that those who sought his life were dead. And yet, You record for the ages that he feared not. Do You have a faulty memory? Purposefully, yes, You do. Where we think that the temptations of our emotions will last forever and will define us, You show just how little they define how we are seen for eternity.

How, then, can we lead our emotions today? How can we leave a record for the ages that fear and limitations did not to find us even though in the moment those things are very real? Moses' change was in hearing from You and continuing to hear from You in spite of the weaknesses he saw in himself. Help us, then, to keep reading and keep listening to You and spite of how our emotions respond. Help us to make decisions rooted in faith rather than in fear.

Faith is demonstrated in spite of human weaknesses and sometimes in spite of earthly outcomes. (Verses 30-40) This section parallels the dramatic earthly bakeries You can win and have won with the faith-building irony that You do not always do so. You CAN overthrow the existing powers, like You did at Jericho, or You can allow them to stay in place and execute Your people unjustly. You can raise the dead of the faithful, and You can also bring the faithful home to be with You, even through circumstances we would not choose. Either way, the surpassing blessing is a "better resurrection" of which the current order is not worthy.

Can we pray to You knowing that You can bring this-world victories and still trust You when You choose not to? This is faith. Faith is knowing that wherever You choose to bring is a better and longer-lasting blessing than anything we could grab for. Faith is enough to keep our focused beyond gaining the earthly advantage and on a lasting treasures that You offer. Teach us, Father, to look up and know that You cannot be out-given.

THEME: The common reminder of these two chapters is to place a high value on the privilege of gathering together with other believers. The psalmist is GLAD to gather in Your house, and the author of Hebrews encourages his audience to stir one another up and not to forsake assembling together.

PRAISES: Thank You for the local body of believers that You give us in which to enter into the most challenging and intimate relationships. Thank You for the unity we can have with the wider work of the body of Christ, as when I was just messaged even at what for me is an unusually early hour by a friend in Bangladesh asking for prayers. Thank You for the Sacrifice of Christ that made possible our access and the access of our prayers to You.

APPLICATIONS: Religious rituals will never replace a reliance on Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. (Verses 1-10) The author of Hebrews is careful to point out the value that the Old Testament sacrifices served. He said in the last chapter that these sacrifices pointed to Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. Now he establishes that the sacrifices in and of themselves could not provide forgiveness for sin, no matter how faithfully repeated. The very fact that they had to be repeated again and again, he says, shows that they could not prove a basis for a relationship with You.

With what spirit, then, do we go about even the best of our religious habits? Are we thinking that they will earn us "points" with You? Perish the thought! As we try to devote ourselves to spiritual disciplines, as I do to studying the Word and to writing on it in this format, continue to show us just how much we need You and Your grace in order to have any consistency at all. Draw us closer in our acknowledgment of our weakness than we could ever be if we thought ourselves strong. Show us, Father, the eternal lessons for which You are using the props of earthly things today.

Truly changed hearts will continue to seek after You more and more. (Verses 11-25) In the new covenant relationship with You, the author of Hebrews says that Your righteousness will be written on our hearts rather than simply with nods of outward obedience going through the motions in fits and starts. Believers will, he says, not be satisfied with fulfilling religious obligations and staying put. Instead, they will prompt each other to be more and more like You, continuing to be sanctified as we progress toward the ultimate reunion with You and departure from our flesh.

What do we truly desire? If our faith in You is real, the overall arc of our lives will be to desire You more this month than we did last month and this year more than we did last year. Is that true? Are we really DESIRING to assemble together with other believers? In my case, I am grateful for this desire that You put there and do not pretend to claim credit for it. But I know that my desire even for You and Your Word is not consistent. Where it would seek novelty and dare to chafe at the repetition of the marvel of the substitutionary atonement that You ordained, remind me anew just how much I needed and still need costly forgiveness.

Knowledge of the salvation process is not enough. We must believe and act upon it. (Verses 26-39) The author again warns that there are those who understand the salvation process but never take it as a personal, life-changing commitment. Describing them, he gives the memorable picture of trampling the grace of Christ underfoot and warns that there will be judgment for this. To assure continued passion and direction, he encourages those in his audience who are indeed saved to look back on what You did through them in the earlier days of their faith. There is assurance of Your power to change hearts in an honest look at our history with You. If there is fruit, if there are examples of risks we have taken and things we have done that we would not have done in our own self-interest, the author of Hebrews directs us to be encouraged by this.

How do we do with that honest examination today? Are we making different choices because we are Yours? Or, have we mastered a basic set of facts, mouthed the words, and judge for ourselves that this is sufficient for salvation? As I review my journal entries on the Gospels heavily influenced by The Gospel According to Jesus that I was reading at the same time about six months ago, I am challenged with the same questions yet again? How is Christ evident in my life in the choices I make? Many will SAY, "Lord, Lord," but will not enter into fellowship with Him for eternity because they did not do so here. Help us, Father, to affirm Your Son in even our smallest decisions today so that we do not drift from the Gospel we have committed to, and even that by Your grace.

THEME: The psalmist says that You will preserve our going out and our coming in, and the author of Hebrews extends this to You giving us access to Your very presence through Jesus Christ.

PRAISES: Thank You that nowhere we enter or exit today is outside of Your protection. Thank You that we can come into Your very presence this morning knowing that we have been justified by the blood of Christ. Thank You that we do not have to look to the high places where the world finds solace in order to be comforted.

APPLICATIONS: The Hebrew Scriptures offer us a worthwhile example of New Testament Truths. (Verses 1-10) The author of Hebrews is drawing his Jewish audience back to their roots. He is reminding them that blood had to be shed for the remission of sin. He is reminding them that access into Your presence was not automatic but had to be on Your terms and with the provision of a sacrifice.

As he goes back to the "Old Testament" as a basis for looking at present reality, why would we not? Why would we not value Your whole Word which Scripture says was given to us as an example? Give us a hunger, Father, to dig more deeply. Help us to see through the centuries people just like us who needed a Savior and a Sacrifice to approach a holy God and, believing, looked forward to the kind of access to You that we now have. Continue to raise up teachers who value Your Word and teach every syllable of it as relevant. For those blessed to be under such teaching on a weekly basis, continue to prepare the ground of our hearts so that we do not grow hardened in our knowledge and pride and fail to receive the new Truth You are showing us now through Your ancient Word.

Christ's death commences the terms of our new access to You. (Verses 11-22) The author of Hebrews points out that a will does not take effect until the person making the will passes away. As such, Christ's death was necessary to usher out the outward formality of the Law and to establish a new beginning. The author gives precedent that even the old covenant at the beginning of the tabernacle had to be established with the shedding of blood.

Do we understand just how new Your mercies are this morning? Or do we take for granted that we can come before You? Renew our awe, Father. Remind us of the price that was paid that we might not only live in the biological sense but thrive in intimacy with You. Do not allow that price to have been paid in vain as we are invited into Your presence but did not come. If the master in Jesus' story was angered when a great banquet was prepared and people gave excuses not to come, how much more real will Your wrath be against those who dismissed the price that You paid to amuse themselves with other things?

The price has already been COMPLETELY paid for the sins of those who accept it. (Verses 23-28) This text points out that Christ does not have to continually suffer for our sins. He is not still on the cross. He does not still feel the nails every time we fail. As He cried out from the cross just before He died, IT IS FINISHED, and the price is paid in full.

How, then, shall we live? If the price has already been paid, shall we waste one moment on guilt and shame? Or, instead, should we not look for opportunities to share with others the price that has already been paid on their behalf? Give us assurance, Father, in the price that has already been paid for us. Fill us with gratitude that motivates us to point to You in every human encounter today.

THEME: The reality of the sin nature is featured in both chapters. Because of it, the old covenant could not establish a right relationship with You, and because of it, human relationships in the Psalm are polluted.

PRAISES: Thank You for the new covenant that allows us to live in right relationship with You. Thank You for the difference that You make in how we relate to each other. Thank You for the substance we can look forward to of which even the best things on earth are only a shadow.

APPLICATIONS: Christ was our offering. (Verses 1-4) As a high priest, the author of Hebrews reminds us that Christ had to bring a sacrifice before You. Unlike the earthly sacrifices of animals that had to be brought again and again, though, He offered Himself.

If Christ intercedes for us, who is it that condemns? As we experience the weight of condemnation on any issue today, remind us of the position of our Advocate. Remind us of the perfection of His offering on our behalf. Remind us that He presents US, hard as this is to believe, as an acceptable gift to You. Help us, then, to see ourselves as the spotless bride which is the Church rather than as "stuck” in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in at the moment.

What we experience on earth is only a shadow of things to come. (Verses 4-8) If the earthly system of sacrifices had been enough, Christ would not have had to die. If men going through the religious motions would have been sufficient, Christ would not have had to die. But from the beginning of the Law, You established that the requirements of the Law and the things of earth in general were to serve as object lessons for the things to come.

Why would we, then, be satisfied with the shadow? C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity challenges that we have by comparing Bios, earthly physical life, which is a shadow of Zoe, the real, lasting life for which we were created. He says, "Bios has, to be sure, a certain shadowy or symbolic resemblance to Zoe: but only the sort of resemblance there is between of photo and a place, or a statue and a man. A man who changed from having Bios to having Zoe would have gone through as big a change as a statue which changed from being a carved stone to being a real man. And this is precisely what Christianity is about. The world is a great sculptor's shop. We are the statues and there is a rumor going round the shop that some of us are some day going to come to life.” What part in us has ceased to long for Heaven and has set our affections on the things of earth? Remind us, Father, what really matters. Give us a glimpse like Moses had of real worship and of a real in-person relationship with You. From that mountaintop experience, we will never be satisfied with imitations again.

You offer us an individual, intimate relationship with You. (Verses 8-13) As Paul also emphasizes,, the author of Hebrews shows us the point of the Law. It was meant to show that we could not keep it. Establishing that and our need for Your grace and mercy, a new covenant was offered. You tell Jeremiah in words related here in Hebrews that You will establish a relationship with us not based on our ability to keep the covenant on our own. Instead, You will write the Law on our minds and our hearts and relate to us individually.

Why would we tear that down, then, and attempt to create our own moral code that gives us merit to relate to You? Instead, help us to rejoice in what You have already done. Teach us to implore You to shape our desires and our thoughts that are manifested in our actions today. Make us expressions of the new covenant into which You are inviting individuals from every tribe and every nation.

THEME: Both of these chapters emphasize how long Your Law has been in place. Even with Melchizedek, long before Moses, Your Law was in place, and the psalmist celebrates this.

PRAISES: Thank You that our high priest has no beginning and no end. Thank You that even Abraham, representing our best efforts, sacrificed before Him. Thank You that we can, like the psalmist, in best of our selves and our emotions into You.

APPLICATIONS: The plan for salvation and intercession begins with You. (Verses 1-10) Before people were ever born into the line of Levi, there was already a high priest. Before Moses ever wrote down the requirements for the office, You had a plan in place. Before the details of giving according to Your Law were recorded, You already motivated Abraham to acknowledge You by giving.

Can we worship You for initiating before we ever react to anything today? In fact, You are foreshadowing eternal things in the temporal event that You bring before us today. Will we ask for Your help in seeing them? Help us to see beyond the battles, Father, and the routines -- even the religious routines. One day these will be no more and the eternal Truth to which they pointed will be accomplished fact. Prepare our hearts, Father, for this day. What's more, help us to live out in the temporal lives that will point others to the eternal.

What You offer is not a boost to our own efforts but a completely new start. (Verses 11-19) You don't need to build on the accomplishment of the line of Levi in order to accomplish Your purposes. In fact, the author of Hebrews says that that line did not accomplish any part of our salvation but simply showed the futility of human effort. Instead, You brought about the Priesthood that intercede for us in a completely different way, as Jesus was of the line of Judah.

Do we understand just how new Your mercies are this morning? We have not been good enough for long enough to have You come in and crown our efforts with the finish we needed. Instead, You have a completely different plan. Thus unburdened, we can be Your royal priesthood in this line and intercede for and unburden others. Give us encounters TODAY, even on a Monday, where we can celebrate our new start by giving one to someone else.

The reign of our High Priest will not end. (Verses 20-28) The author of Hebrews celebrates the fact that Jesus did not need a commission or oath in order to begin His ministry but that it was preordained centuries before. He celebrates the fact that, while the mortal priests role ended with their deaths, that Jesus will continue forever and that He does not need to ask forgiveness for His own weakness.

In a world of temporary fixes, how grateful can we be that our Jesus is not One of them? That will never be an expiration on His ability to intercede for us. There will never be a time when He grows tired or is preoccupied with His own needs. Doing the will of His Father and teaching and interceding for us is His food. Our prayers are incense before Him. Being who we are, dependent and vulnerable, is an act of worship to Him. Help us, Father, in the midst of change and recognition of our own limited ability to help others to recognize that we have One endlessly able to help us.

THEME: This morning's theme is Your faithfulness, which the psalmist says lasts forever and the author of Hebrews affirms by recounting Your unbreakable promise to Abraham.

PRAISES: Thank You for Your promises to Abraham sworn by Yourself. Thank You for Your promises that last with Your Word to all generations. Thank You that You grow us in Your Word beyond its elementary principles.

APPLICATIONS: What we produce indicates if we are really saved. (Verses 1-8) This is a sober warning from the author of Hebrews. He says that there are those who won to keep relearning the essentials of the faith but who are not producing the results of Your effectual call on their lives. He says that there are those who soak in the rain of Your grace in Your blessings and the understanding of Your truth only to produce thorns and thistles instead of fruit. These don't glorify You. They don't benefit others. They are destined for the fire.

How about us? Do we want to be continually taught the basics again as an excuse for not applying them? Where are we misusing the grace You rain on our lives in order to grow where it will not produce eternal results? As many gather in church this morning out of habit to hear the same basic essentials again and again with no expectation of growth, wake us up. Make us honest appraisers of the fruits of our lives and of the resources we have invested to produce the crop that has come up there. Where those in spiritual leadership, and do not all mature Christians progress to that point according to Hebrews 5, must go through the thoroughly uncomfortable process of addressing the lack of fruit in someone else's life, give them courage and grace.

You use spiritual mentors to keep us growing in the faith. (Verses 9-12) The author commends his audience for the evidence in their history that You have been working through them. In fact, he says that You remember their good works. His concern, though, is that they become self-satisfied. He does not want to see them measuring themselves by themselves. He encourages them to find spiritual mentors who have gone before them in the race of the Christian life.

Are we setting our sites that far forward? It is far easier to look back on what You have done in, somehow, congratulate ourselves. But, as we ask, You will put people in our lives from the pages of Scripture and in the present day who will stir us up to love and good works to a greater degree than is currently evident. I am blessed to have a couple of those relationships in my life, but You are preparing me for someone else who will challenge me to go to the next level. Help me to listen, and, also, help me to lead as You give me the opportunity to influence others.

Your Word and Your demonstrated faithfulness anchor our souls. (Verses 13-20) The author of Hebrews, like the latter-day C.S. Lewis knows that undulating is the norm for us. Both of them urge us to focus on an anchor outside of ourselves, and that Anchor is You. Your promises are more steady than our feelings. They are more steady than any part of the "bargain" we could keep. This is why in Your Word You swear to Abraham by Yourself. Your character is established enough that You need not proclaim or record something in order to be faithful to it, but you do this for HUMAN benefit.

How can we depend more on our Anchor than ourselves? Draw us to spend time in Your Word remembering Your faithfulness as compared to our own inconsistency. Burn into our memory and into pages like these examples of Your faithfulness in our lives that we can draw encouragement from.

THEME: Wound through both sections of Scripture are the twin factors that we wander from the Truth we know and that You draw us closer to Yourself very often through obedience in suffering.

PRAISES: Thank You that You are faithful when we are faithless. Thank You that You intimately know our weaknesses even better than we do. Thank You that You give us a position to intercede for and teach others as Christ did.

APPLICATIONS: We are appointed to compassionately plead for others. (Verses 1-4) The author of Hebrews point out several factors about the human High Priest. This man was in a position to be compassionate. His compassion welled from the fact that he knew that he also had individually fallen short of Your standards and needed Your grace. This author also points out that the High Priest did not assume this office of his own volition but was appointed to it by You.

As Your royal priesthood, do we carry ourselves this way? Does the weakness we see in others break us down to the point of pleading for them with compassion, or does it puff us up with human-centered religious pride? All too often, I know the answer for me. In recent days, I have had one particular friend's struggles on my heart, and yet my attitude has more to do with judging him for what his affections for You are not rather than pleading with You that they be set ablaze. Free me, Father, of the cancer of spiritual pride before the cells that divide and promote "growth" in me are entirely consumed by it. As I, and as we, have the opportunity to come before You, do not allow us to forget how much we still need Christ's intercession for our own sins. Give us unspeakable gratitude for the fact that in such a position we can come before You and still plead for other people. Remind us many times each day that it was YOU Who appointed us to such a position rather than ANY others-centered desire in us.

Obedience and suffering are the way of Christ. (Verses 5-10) Christ was appointed to the office of High Priest in the Old Testament before He ever took on flesh. He carried this office out perfectly. He had perfect, intimate access to You and was heard by You when He cried out. Even so, He obeyed You to the point of suffering and death.

Do we expect instant gratification and to call it "following" this Christ? Christ was plain in pointing out that as a servant is not greater than his master that we would be hated as He was. How is that evident in our lives? How is that evident in MY life in a chapter when it seems nearly everyone speaks well of me and I DESIRE that affirmation which He said was a sign of danger? Should I, or should we, go instantly from a life in which we are so affirmed to one in which we suffer unto the point of death? This is unlikely. Instead, as Mere Christianity points out in one place, You will likely give us small challenges in our closest relationships to handle differently and allow us to progress to the more challenging encounters with enemies who are more brash. If we are to love the Nazis in C.S. Lewis's day or Al Queda in this, You will likely start us with loving the client who lied about a criminal record and blew a placement yesterday, or some similarly small encounter. Help us then, Father, to put ourselves radically last in some tiny way today.

By its very nature, time in the Word will develop discipling and discernment in us. (Verses 11-14) Influencing others is expected, not the exception. The author of this letter expects the people he is writing to who have come to know You to be teaching others. Perhaps not all of them will be leading congregations, but there is much to be taught in the way a maturing Christian lives. The author seems to pretty clearly indicate, though, that the point at which we can teach and influence others is not a merit badge to be gained and then forgotten. He was not writing to Christians who had never progressed to Christian maturity. He says that they "have come" to need milk and not solid food. He talks about teaching them again. He tells this group that they will develop wisdom and discernment in the Word while actually digging into it rather than waiting for the light to come on first.

Do we see these fruits in our lives? As we come to know You, is it immediately evident that we want to teach others? If it was for a friend of mine's school-age son as the day after being saved he wanted to see his brother in the same relationship with You, we should be GRAVELY concerned if the same desire is not in us. If we don't want to dig into the Word and to do what we DO understand in order to be enlightened on what we don't, there is a SERIOUS problem. Teach me, Father, to more actively apply what I've read here as You show me more of Yourself in it.

THEME: In both chapters, the Word shows us where we have wandered from You.

PRAISES: Thank You for the gift of Your Word that both convicts us and stirs our affections for You. Thank You that there is so much to love about You and to woo us away from an affection for the things of this world. Thank You for the rest that You have promised us that we can look forward to.

APPLICATIONS: In order to experience true peace with You, hearing the Word needs to be mixed with the faith to believe it. (Verses 1-5) The author of Hebrews warned that hearing the Word is not enough. He warns that the Israelites in the Old Testament heard the Word and even heard the Gospel in it but were not saved. They did not, he says, have the faith to believe, to take You at Your promises and to rest in that provision.

Without faith, then, we also read the Word in vain. We can look at Your promises to provide peace and rest for us and instead opt for striving. To do otherwise is a gift from You. As we read Your Word, help us to see Your whole character, willing and able to provide peace and rest for us like the shepherd for the sheep. Where we have expressed saving faith but have stopped there, believing that You help those who help themselves, take over and prove Yourself in every area of our lives.

Even as we experience more of Your peace today, there is a more complete peace to come. (Verses 6-10) The author of Hebrews points out a paradox. He says that Joshua looked forward to Your ultimate peace even as he knew that there would be battles in Your plan for him. He was able, this author says, to keep one eye on what You were doing in the present and still express that great and certain hope for the rest You had for him in eternity.

Have we lost sight of that rest? Do today's battles loom so large that they are all we can see? Even when we have the faith that many of these battles will be victories, as they have been for me lately, there remains a time to come apart. Take me to the place, Father, where even for few minutes I can contemplate the complete contentment that is to come. Help me to draw from those sweet and still waters to quench the thirst of those around me.

Through Your Word, You both expose our weaknesses and show us the way to address them through Your forgiveness. (Verses 11-16) This section begins with the odd picture of being diligent to enter into rest. One would think that rest could be relaxed into, but this author notice that that is not our natural state. Instead, he offers Your Word as the way to show us what is getting in the way of our rest. As it reveals the problems, Your Word also reassures us that these very weaknesses are already known by Christ, and, because of the access He grants us to You, can bring us directly into Your presence to ask for strengthening and forgiveness.

Why would we not go, then? Why would we continue in our default state of trying to find a peace that we can take credit for? Help us to learn from the examples in Your Word where that has not worked. Help us never to take for granted the privilege of coming into Your presence and seeking the grace and mercy that we continue to need.

THEME: What we have this morning is the consistency of Your character and the inconsistency of ours. The psalmist celebrates that Your mercy endures forever, and the author of Hebrews celebrates the steadfastness of Christ. On the other hand, the author of Hebrews readily admits that many people, having seen Your wonders, have fallen away.

PRAISES: Thank You for Your mercy that endures forever for those that You moved to ask for it. Thank You for Christ's faithfulness in His mission to express that mercy through the cross. Thank You for the expressions of Your mercy that You continue to perform right before our eyes and for any awareness You give us of them.

APPLICATIONS: An attitude of confidence and rejoicing is a sign that we are Christ's. (Verses 1-6) The author of Hebrews is again concerned that those he writes to persevere in their faith. Even as they are scattered and persecuted, he wants to see the difference that Christ makes. This is not shown, at least in this case, by gritted teeth and stern expression. What shows that people belong to what Christ is building, this author says, is that they are confident and actually, actively rejoicing.

The simple but challenging question is, then, are we? Are we looking to His deliverance from whatever pressure and disappointment we are currently experiencing, or do our circumstances wholly dominate our perspective? Keep us in the Word, Father, because that's, rather than our emotions, is the source of our confidence. Keep Your promises in our hearts in a world that takes commitment lightly. We have every reason to be confident even when circumstances do not show it, and, if we look, the Truth is that even circumstances often show Your provision when they are less than perfect. Even if we hold confidence in our hearts, though, this is not a full expression of Christ's complete work. We can do this silently, hunkered down alone. Rejoicing is, ultimately, an outward expression of Your goodness that can encourage those around us who are going through the same trials, and maybe worse. If we, who have Christ and will relate and will with Him in eternity carry ourselves as so burdened that we do not rejoice, how heavy laden must be the world around us?

No physical proof of Your provision is, apart from a trusting relationship with You, sufficient to keep us faithful. (Verses 7-11) The author of Hebrews is writing to a people who no doubt have a specific wish list of how they would like to see You act. Perhaps they are holding out that they would believe You with their whole hearts IF You would defeat the present authorities and allow them to return home. But, pointing back to history, this writer indicates that this is not the case. He looks back at their forefathers who saw more miracles than any other generation on earth in being delivered from Egypt and still fell away.

Do we love You, or do we love what You can do for us? The state of our hearts will answer that question. As we believe You for particular victories, You can develop hearts in us that believe You even before we see them come to pass. You can develop hearts in us that look back in gratitude at what You have already done in our lives and in history and REJOICE so exceedingly that we know You would be worthy of our worship if You never acted again on our behalf. Fill our mouths, Father, with such praises. Remind us that we have no right to claim Your intervention as a result of our own faithfulness, and make us grateful wherever we see You act.

As we are all vulnerable to be distracted, we need to focus on and to remind each other of how good You are. (Verses 12-19) Again, the author of Hebrews is concerned about developing a faith in those he influences that will persevere through difficult times. He reminds them that sin in their lives can move them to love Christ less. He knows that followers of Christ are distractible and vulnerable enough that they need to make a concerted effort to encourage each other.

How much more, then, do we need to encourage each other in this age? If this original audience could be distracted by persecutions, how much more can we with ease and entertainment? Only You can keep us steadfast, Father. Only You can keep us hungry for the Word. Only You can keep Your Word in our mouths. But as You do, we will overflow into the lives of those around us. Help us, Father, to be an active encouragement today. Fill us with celebrative statements which declare without religious pretension just how good You are.

THEME: Your mercy is in central focus of both passages today. The psalmist glories that You offer it in his brief entry, and the author of Hebrews emphasizes that You offer mercy to men but not to angels.

PRAISES: Thank You that we can constantly refocus on Your mercy, not allowing ourselves to drift from the wonder that it is. Thank You that Your Word, including the Hebrew Scriptures, is brought to life to remind us of Your character and Your mercy. Thank You that You not only saved us but are preparing us to rule and reign with You, even over the angels.

APPLICATIONS: It our focus on You is not INCREASING, we are in danger of drifting away. (Verses 1-4) The author of Hebrews calls on his audience not to stand still. It isn't enough to simply maintained the same habits. He says that the believer must be MORE earnest about You today than he was yesterday. If not, drifting away is a real possibility. Even one third of the angels, with all the obvious signs of Your power and beauty that they saw, drifted away and then rebelled. How much more vulnerable, made of flesh and with only a vague conception of spiritual realities apart from Your Word, are humans to losing focus on You?

How can we challenge ourselves today to be more earnest in our love for You? As we read Your Word, does Your grace and mercy become a familiar formula, or can we still embrace it so that it stops us in our tracks? Help us, Father, to seek a more passionate love for You first by recognizing our own tendency to wander and to chase after what looks good and "spiritual" in the moment. From there, give us disciplined habits rooted not in pride or obligation but in love for You. In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis recognized how vulnerable we are and how valuable these habits are, saying, "If you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held up for your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious reading and church-going are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed. And as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?" We don't want to drift away, but we are not strong enough to keep ourselves from doing so. Renew our passion for You that surpasses any other, keeping God and loving Father.

The authority we are being prepared for may not be immediately apparent, but it is our lasting identity. (Verses 5-9) The author of Hebrews first remedy for his audience equating Christ with an angel is to renew their focus on exalting Him as God and entirely unique. Having sounded that note, he then goes to take angels off of any kind of a pedestal simply because they are different than human beings. He reminds his audience that they, and not angels, are being prepared to rule the universe with Your authority. Paul also reminds his audience of this, noting that believers will judge the angels. The author of Hebrews concedes readily to his scattered and persecuted audience that the authority of the believer is not immediately apparent, but he has confidence in the promises of Your Word rather than the circumstances of the moment.

Do we see ourselves as being prepared for something bigger than surviving today? What notions have you given us of that? Where You are revealing Your plan for us directly in Your Word or in the burdens that Your Spirit puts on our spirit, forgive us for being willfully distracted and for calling ourselves "humble" for not walking in the giftedness and authority that You give us. To draft Mere Christianity again, Lewis writes in a quote I want emblazoned on my heart and on my tombstone even if there is no room for my name, "If I find in the myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is settled, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or to be unthankful for, the earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for something else for which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find until after death; but I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same." keep us, Father, from being satisfied or distracted by the mirage. Prepare us, then, for what we were created to be for all eternity.

Christ’s death and Resurrection bring us who have accepted it into His family. (Verses 10-18) As You showed so many times before in Your Word. There is no probation. There is that, contrary to what I am taking in in The Divine Comedy, no Scriptural status of purgatory where we are barely tolerated until we can do better. We are adopted as brothers and as children in Your family, brought into that intimacy because of the price that was paid for us.

What a comfort to those, as in Hebrews, who are truly suffering, and to the rest of us! What does the worst of what we go through here on earth compare to being introduced and identified for all of eternity as part of Christ's family? Furthermore, since He paid the price for us to be honored and connected in this way, should we not invite others into the family and see whom You have called? Animate us, Father, with gratitude that casts out grumbling and with a confidence in Your love that casts out of fear. Make us different, Father, because of where we are headed and Whose we are. Make it so. Make it so.

THEME: On a morning beset with technical difficulties, the, emphasis is vindication in Christ. We are heard because He was heard. We will win over the enemy because He triumphed over His enemies.

PRAISES: Thank You that You hear us, whether or not our gadgets work properly. Thank You that, no matter a feeling of foreboding or the presence of actual opposition, that You will be victorious even through us. Thank You for the entirety of Your Word that gives us our best picture of Your character revealed through Your Son.

APPLICATIONS: Your revelation through Christ is a continuation of Your timeless desire to reveal Yourself to us. (Verses 1-2) From the front cover to the back cover, Your Word contains the story of You desiring to relate to men. Christ brings that to a new level as Your Son took on flesh in order to walk among us and to die for the sins of those who would believe, but this is hardly a latter-day reaction. You walked in the garden with Adam and Eve. You desired to commune and communicate with Moses. You detailed the construction of a tabernacle and a temple in order to be in the midst of people and to show Your glory to them. Before Christ was born, You communicated through prophets in order that people might understand Your Truth.

Are we listening this morning to this continuous conversation? Do we still marvel in it, or has it become routine that God would speak to us? Renew our awe, Father, at the fact that You, Who are complete in Yourself, would desire to speak to us. Continue to raise up and to strengthen teachers who would regard Your whole Word from the Hebrew Scriptures to the New Testament with this kind of reverence and would give their whole lives to share it with others. Put Your Word in my mouth and in the mouths of others who do not go out as "professional" witnesses but because of that may have more authentic opportunities to share Your Word and Your story.

Christ's payment for the cost of sin is completed. (Verses 3-4) The author of Hebrews says that Christ purged the cost of sin by himself. He says that, having completed that work, Christ sat down at Your right hand. Mighty enough to be integral in all creation, He was mighty enough to pay the cost of sin once and for all by Himself.

How does it free us knowing that that work is FINISHED? I think of this through every beautiful canto of Dante's journey through Purgatory, as people who have confessed Christ as Savior still suffer in order to be purified of particular sins that they struggled with. When they are finally cleansed of one after many years, they rejoice to move up to the next level and pay for the next one. Never has false teaching made me rejoice so much for the real Truth contained in these verses. Whether I feel like I am a finished work, or whether I feel like I will ever finish my work, Christ has paid the price for me to walk in good works and victories. Having paid that price, He is sitting at Your right hand and actually advocating for ME and for any who have likewise accepted Him as Savior. Give us the mind of Christ, then, as we see ourselves and our situations differently.

Christ is distinct from the creation that He participated in, and He has the authority to rule over it. (Verses 5-14) The author of Hebrews is adamant that Christ is not another angel. He is not a spirit but God in the flesh with all authority to do what He would with creation, including us.

Give us, then, hearts to worship Jesus even in the middle of the week. Remind us afresh that He is not a purveyor of magic tricks or a solution of last resort but God Himself. Renew our awe at the fact that He Who was present at creation and is rightful ruler over it has called us friend and has designed us to rule and reign with Him. Help us, like Paul in so many places, to keep that future in view and to be so sold on the supremacy of Christ that anything else we encounter is trifling by comparison.

THEME: What these two chapters have in common, after some thinking, is our stewardship over the things of earth. The psalmist says that You have given it to us, and Paul says that it is up to Philemon to voluntarily use his authority and property for Your Kingdom.

PRAISES: Thank You for all that You bless us with on this earth. Thank You for the opportunity we have to learn to serve You with it, a lesson that will last into eternity. Thank You, Father, that these things, even these responsibilities, are just a shadow of the things to come.

APPLICATIONS: Establishing an unconditional positive regard for our brothers is essential before dealing with any contentious issue. (Verses 1-7) Paul has an issue to deal with, and we know that he is not shy about confronting anyone. But even with all of his intellect and intensity, he does not go straight to the issue that might divide. He does not reach directly for his apostolic authority. Instead, he establishes what he and Philemon have in common, that they both labor for the Kingdom, that they both love the Lord Jesus, that they both need to exhibit grace and peace to each other and to each lift the other in prayer.

We can give off the same things, no matter our legitimate and biblical differences with our fellow Christians and fellow humans. We can look for the common points that we all want, especially among believers. We can focus on a history of common service and a current state of the heart that puts love for You above any particular differences in practice. Let this love, Father, be obvious even to people who are not following Christ, that they would know that our end is their correction and reconciliation with the greatest good they will ever know, You.

As You work in our will to create a DESIRE to submit what is "ours" to You, we can trust that and avoid bullying and manipulating other people. (Verses 8-16) Paul knows that as a spiritual authority in the life of Philemon, he could command him to do the right thing. But he also knows that he would rather see the heart change than enforce an edict. He would rather appeal and persuade, counting on You for the ultimate result.

As You give us influence, we can use it in this way. In fact, we can be passive in action precisely BECAUSE we can be assertive in prayer, knowing that we appeal to One Who can change hearts in an instant. As one friend of mine goes through an anguishing wait for this change in another, be the Master and Maker of both of their hearts. Shape both according to Your will and Your plan rather than the short-term results that would be most comfortable and convenient for either one. As I spend time with both, give me Paul's wisdom to choose my words carefully and to allow You to do the heavy lifting. As Paul shows, surrendering individuals in this way brings them back to us better than we could have possibly shaped them by force.

As we trust in Your capacity to work in the hearts of others, we can, by faith, continue in fellowship with them until all other possibilities have been exhausted. (Verses 17-25) Paul is confident that even in the face of division Philemon will do the right thing. As this is not a matter of violating a clear biblical injunction, Paul does not threaten him with broken fellowship if the two of them do not see the issue the same way. In fact, he is expecting to be able to stay with Philemon in the future, clearly confident that Your work in both of their lives will be bigger than any disagreement.

You can work out this faith in our human relationships. You can help us to emphasize all that we have in common in You, no matter what the issue of the day is. Help us to see the wider work of Your Kingdom where we before might have seen personal preferences. Keep us all, Father, so focused on You and then on the lost that You have left us here to reach that there is no time for division over lesser issues.