Good Morning, Siblings!
Today’s readings are Hebrews 11-13
Read today’s Bible readings at BibleGateway by clicking here.
Rabbit Trails
Today, we read the closing of Hebrews, beginning in chapter 11. In my mind, this is an epic retelling and reminding of our history right up there with the speech Moses gave towards the end of Deuteronomy. It is stirring, and the depth of the words being said beg for a slower, deeper reading. I want to encourage you to take your time with Hebrews 11. Read each name and each incident and pause as long as necessary to consider it. If one of the people being mentioned does not immediately bring to mind a recollection of their lives, I’d stop and go look it up and read about them so that it does, then return to Hebrews 11 and continue on in that same fashion until you reach the end of the chapter.
These are important examples for us. Why? Because YHWH chose to give them to us as examples in His word. He chose their lives to hold up before us as models, as lessons, as stories of how to navigate life and be counted as honoring Him at the end of it. And it is no coincidence that YHWH did not whitewash the lives of His people, even those we would count as heroes of the faith in how they lived. They are fallible. They falter. They stumble. And yet they continue on. Grace is given, correction is administered, and with the help of YHWH Himself, they rise again to serve Him and to be a light that leads others to Him.
So read chapter 11 in Hebrews slowly, solemnly, with an ever growing hope inside of you. These men and women who were counted righteous by their faith were not righteous in their own right, but by His power, which is within each of us today.
I want to encourage you, if you mark in your Bibles, to heavily highlight these last few chapters of Hebrews. In my own Bible, Hebrews 12:6-8, Hebrews 12:11, Hebrews 12:12-15, Hebrews 13:1-2, Hebrews 13:16, are all verses I have highlighted, Use these readings to encourage, embolden, and strengthen your spirit for the race ahead.
Hebrews 11 is a clear and convicting case for the absolute necessity of Scriptural knowledge in our lives today.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1
Test everything, hold tight to what is good.~ 1 Thess 5:21
We are saved by Grace alone: Obedience is not the root of our salvation, it is the fruit!
May YHWH bless the reading of His Word!