Taking a Hike Through Hebrews
We do not get to decide who God is. He just is. We don’t get to decide who Jesus is. He just is. The Holy Spirit is alive and running through the veins of believers. The Three-in-One loves us and wants us to love Him back. That has never changed. He smiles when we love each other like He loves us. He never changes. He’s always there. The great I AM was there yesterday, is here today and is our tomorrow. We don’t change Him with our ideas of who He is. He just is.
We like living inside the gate with other believers because that is, well, easier. It feels good to praise God together with those who agree with you. It’s scary to leave the security and go outside the gate…but we must…it is our mission…from I AM. And guess what, Jesus is “out there”, too!
Hebrews 13, The Message
7-8 Appreciate your pastoral leaders who gave you the Word of God. Take a good look at the way they live, and let their faithfulness instruct you, as well as their truthfulness. There should be a consistency that runs through us all. For Jesus doesn’t change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he’s always totally himself.
9 Don’t be lured away from him by the latest speculations about him. The grace of Christ is the only good ground for life. Products named after Christ don’t seem to do much for those who buy them.
10-12 The altar from which God gives us the gift of himself is not for exploitation by insiders who grab and loot. In the old system, the animals are killed and the bodies disposed of outside the camp. The blood is then brought inside to the altar as a sacrifice for sin. It’s the same with Jesus. He was crucified outside the city gates—that is where he poured out the sacrificial blood that was brought to God’s altar to cleanse his people.
13-15 So let’s go outside, where Jesus is, where the action is—not trying to be privileged insiders, but taking our share in the abuse of Jesus. This “insider world” is not our home. We have our eyes peeled for the City about to come. Let’s take our place outside with Jesus, no longer pouring out the sacrificial blood of animals but pouring out sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus’ name.
16 Make sure you don’t take things for granted and go slack in working for the common good; share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship—a different kind of “sacrifice”—that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the streets.
What do we learn?
–Jesus never changes. Count on it.
–Our mission is to go outside the city gates (from the building of believers) to live sacrificially like Jesus did.
–God gave Himself, Jesus to cleanse us.
–The insider world is not our home.
–Let’s go outside…where Jesus is…and praise Him and live for Him.
–God never changes. We don’t decide who God is.
Dear Heavenly Father, As we go outside the gate today, giving ourselves to you first, guide our steps for we are aware that you are there with us. May your glory be seen in our lives as well as on our lips. May others see YOU in me and be drawn closer to You…not me. Thank you for never changing. Thank you for this security. Thank you for teaching us and transforming us to be more than what we were yesterday. Thank you for not giving up on us. Help us to be more aware of Your Presence all day long today as we “go outside the gate”. In Jesus Name, Amen
