Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.
For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwing, and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard them begged that no further word be spoken to them. For they could not bear the command, "If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned." And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, "I am full of fear and trembling." But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.
See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven." This expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.
Let the love of the brethren continue.
(Hebrews 12:14-13:1)
1 comment:
Ah, you just beat me to the punch by a few minutes. I was going to leave various Scriptures to focus on Jesus and the need to pray before we plan. So I’ll adapt to respond to your post.
What a great reminder to stay focused on grace. Grace that produces peace and not strife or worse, the bitterness of evil. And that, such grace is manifested in the Lord’s strength, from which we cannot be moved.
So we CAN, “be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:7a). We CAN say, “I waited patiently for the Lord, He turned to me and hear my cry” (Psalm 40:1). We CAN wait for Him because His is the strength, not ours. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear…” (Psalm 46:1) cancer, or hitches in the adoption process, or poor health, or medaling parents, or trouble with kids, or gossip, or loss of a job, or the uncertainty of what is going to happen to our gathering; “no, in all these things we are more then conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither, height nor depth, not anything else in all of creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39). “…We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7) as we hear Jesus say, “be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10a)
In the strengthen of who God is, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we cannot be moved!
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