Fix Our Thoughts on Jesus

"Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. . . . Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. . . . See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "Today," so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end." (Hebrews 3:1, 7, 12-14 NIV).
Salvation, according to scripture, was never meant to be a one time event, but rather is a process in which we interact with the Holy Spirit to become more and more like Christ. And that interaction happens solely through the grace that God freely gives.

A lot is written about grace in the Church. It is a free gift. It is something we cannot do within ourselves. That being said, grace—charis—is also interactive: It is "the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life" (Strong’s G5485). The reflection in the life. There is a God influence that comes to each believer through the Holy Spirit, but we must accept it, appropriate it, and surrender to it in order to become the person God wants us to become. We don’t lose our free will upon salvation and so we must participate in the process of sanctification.

The writer to the Hebrews wasn’t writing to the sinners outside of the Church, but rather was writing to the believers within the Church: "holy brothers and sisters." And this writing stressed that it is possible for a believer to have "a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God." That it is possible for a believer to become "hardened by sin’s deceitfulness." We are to encourage each other daily to stay the course, to continue to trust, and most importantly, continue to be obedient to God’s commands on our lives. To be obedient to the very end.

Sin can slip in so easily and so invisibly. It can come from a phrase we hear in a movie, from an offense we take up, from a single choice to be liked. Our very being is sinful and we need to distrust our own hearts, feelings, and motives because they will betray us at every turn. The apostle Paul wrote: "I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:27 NRSV). We need to submerse ourselves in the Word, surrendering our will to God in everything and turning away from our desires, feelings, and inclinations so that, in the end, we will be found still trusting and believing in His Word. We need to fix our thoughts on Jesus!

© 2017 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.