Hebrew 10-:35-39 – Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: “For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
I have found that I have gained much in understanding God in the last couple of years. Sadly, I admit I prayed for years more like when I felt like it. It wasn’t the daily morning time set aside to speak to God and to listen for His voice. I only started doing the latter this year. In the daily set-aside moments, I’ve found an explosion of growth in relationship.
I feel sometimes like I’m driving down a road. Sometimes I drift to the left or right. I have to correct back to the center of the road. Most times, I don’t realize I’m drifting until a little nudge tells me I am. The road is straight and narrow. It’s not like a tightrope. Picture a road only wide enough for one vehicle. We all have to travel our road for our own growth in God.
Phil 2:12 – Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
The word fear has a dire meaning, but it also has a very eye-opening meaning. That meaning is reverence for one’s husband.
To understand this, I have to use the metaphor of the bride of Christ. The bride of Christ is a significant metaphor in Christian theology that represents the church. In this imagery, Jesus is depicted as the bridegroom, emphasizing a deep, covenantal relationship between Christ and His followers. This concept is rooted in various New Testament scriptures, particularly in Ephesians 5:22–33, where the relationship between husband and wife is likened to that of Christ and the church.
In this example, Jesus is our husband. That is another study. As the church, we revere our husband. He has given His life for us. He has protected us from being lost. In answering His invitation to be saved, we have surrendered to His will above and beyond our own. Why would anyone want to live their own lives their way and lose it in the end? I reverence Jesus. I fear Him.
In all of this, I find it behooves me to follow Him, allow Him to lead me down this narrow road, and correct me when I drift to one side or the other. I must maintain my confidence. Knowing that confidence grows my endurance to follow. I don’t care how weary I get; I hope to keep my oath to God to follow Him. I ask Him that if I fall, He make Himself known to me and hold me till I cross the finish line.
The following is an excerpt from bibleref.com:
2 Tim 4:7 – I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
As Paul looked toward his coming death, he also looked back and gave three positive statements about his ministry. First, he declared confidence in his own efforts for the sake of Christ. In 1 Timothy 6:12, Paul had commanded Timothy to likewise, “fight the good fight of the faith.”
Second, Paul said he had completed the mission God gave him. Elsewhere, Paul spoke of the Christian faith as a race, saying, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it” (1 Corinthians 9:24). In Hebrews 12:1, the author also noted, “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Third, Paul writes that he has specifically held to the truth. Paul did not hold an ambiguous faith in God, but “the” faith: a specific belief in Jesus as the resurrected Messiah. The New Testament often calls belief in Jesus “the faith” (Acts 6:7; 13:8; 14:22; 16:5). Paul commanded the Corinthian Christians to “stand firm in the faith” (1 Corinthians 16:13), something he practiced in his own life. “The faith” has also been referred to several times in this letter (2 Timothy 1:13; 3:8).
My words to you are to do as Paul directed Timothy to fight the good fight. Or, in my analogy, drive in the center of the road. If you feel yourself drifting, correct your position on the road to eternal life.
