Reflections on Hebrews 4 for those of you still following along
- What does it mean to combine what we hear with faith and action? is it of any use if we simple hear, or absorb it?
- What does it mean to join ‘the rest of god’?
- How often do we act as if God isn’t actually watching? Why does it seem even more important when another human being is watching the way we act than God Himself?
- Jesus is the great sympathizer of all of our sins. Ever wonder if Jesus can’t quite relate to you because He never had to deal with the guilt as a result of committing sin?
- How confident are you as you approach ‘the throne of grace’? What does that mean to you?
If you’re following along, Hebrews is no light read. It is dense with meaning, symbolism, especially with it’s references to the Hebrew Scriptures (The Old Testament).
Some reflections
- What is the ‘heavenly calling’?
- It’s interesting to note that Jesus is described as an apostle
- If the “Builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself” – Where is more emphasis and honor today, the church and all it’s activities, or Jesus Himself?
- What does it mean to hold on to our courage?
- Is God being reactionary as he makes an oath in anger? What does it mean for an unchanging God to actively respond to us?
- Could it be that the sins of others are my responsibility? The Scriptures here call for us to see to it that no one has a sinful, unbelieving heart. How do we fulfill our calling to point people to the Living God?
- There’s several references here to the hardening of the heart. Reminds me of Pharaoh’s heart being hardened. Quite possibly as we refuse to respond to God, there comes a point where there is no turning back?
“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” (Hebrews 2:1)
This is so simple and profound. I believe the phrase I’ve heard for Chrsitians these days is that we are “educated beyond our obedience”. How might we all make a habit of actually responding to all the ways God speaks to us?
“In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.” (Hebrews 2:10)
It’s interesting how God himself found it fitting that the author of life should offer salvation through suffering. I guess I shouldn’t be shocked when we try to offer life to others, it might involve suffering as well.
It’s also bewildering how the passage describes Christ as our ‘brother’ as he shares in our humanity. Yo Bro, would be the last thing I would thinking of calling Jesus the King of Kings.
by Lon on February 20, 2008
Thank you all for making Global Awareness Night a success! Thank you for being good sports, participating, and contributing to the discussions. I hope everyone had a priceless learning experience.
A couple additional thoughts for the night
Congratulations to the ‘rich’ who decided to share with the poor – Could this have helped prevent the ‘poor’ from wanting to steal?
It’s interesting how it took a while for people to find out the ‘rich’ were offering food to them. Some still went through the entire meal unaware. Some knew, and still turned it down. Why is that?
I’d love to know how many of us went to eat another meal right after? I know some of our ‘rich’ ate after their bountiful meal
We still had leftover food at the end, mainly the spaghetti noodles, but of course none of us were really that desperate, were we? If you were hungry that night, you might have still had your ‘standards’
It was a bit unfair of us to make older folks, guests, and kids sit on the floor and not each much… but again, this is just a small glimpse of our global reality.
I’d love to hear any other thoughts, questions, and reflections from the night. See here for a list of resources and next-steps.
