Hebrews 6:11-12
says, "(And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the
full assurance of hope until the end), that you do not become sluggish but
imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises."
(The verse that I
was given was 6:12 but I wanted to add 11 because it helped it make a little
more sense.)
Hebrews 10:36 says,
"For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of
God, you may receive the promise."
Hebrews 12:1-2 says, "Therefore we also,
since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside
every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with
endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God."
To put this verse in
context, it comes at the end of a passage about how the author is confident for
good things concerning them because they will be rewarded for their hard work
and perseverance and then it comes in to remind them to not become sluggish but
keep enduring and follow the examples of the people of faith that have
inherited the promises before them. When it says to show the same diligence to
the full assurance of hope until the end, I think it's saying that they have
been doing a good job enduring but the author wants to encourage them to keep
going all the way to the end. Without faith and patience, they won't make it to
the end and they won’t inherit the promises(Hebrews 10:36-38, Colossians 3:24).
Sometimes trials
feel like they take too long. Sometimes I want to tell God my plans and ask Him
to change His timing. "But God, don't you think I've learned what I need
to? Don't you think I've dealt with this long enough?" God knows what He's doing. If I can still
even be thinking things like that, it means that I haven't learned what I need
to. Maybe I learned something in the trials but I still find myself leaning on
my strength and my knowledge.
I injured my hip
last May and that turned my plans upside down. I was supposed to be leaving in
July for IGNITE and here I was in so much pain that some days I could barely
walk. And then I started dealing with doctors with god complexes that just made
things worse and at the beginning of July I was worse off then when I had
originally gotten injured. This time was extremely frustrating to me. I felt
like God called me to go to IGNITE and now I was in extreme pain and I couldn't
go to IGNITE yet(again) and if I would have gotten the right treatment I could
have gone and now I couldn't even barely work to earn money for IGNITE. It took
a lot of patience and now that I'm here, I'm just now beginning to understand
how perfect His timing is. He wanted me to be here right now for a purpose. I
have to trust Him. He is so much smarter than me. His ways are not my ways and
His thoughts are not my thoughts, they are so much higher than mine(Isaiah
55:8-9).
I'm still in a lot
of pain from my injury and sometimes that can be frustrating but I know that
God has a plan. I'm beginning to see that it might be His way of reminding me
to lean on Him for strength when I get too confident on my own. It's hard to be
prideful and overly confident when you walk with a limp.
The remnant of my
hip injury is just a small trial that I am dealing with right now but it gets
discouraging. I'm worthless on the missions field. How am I going to play with
kids or help with serving projects? God can't use me when I have this injury. Well,
you know what I've realized God can't use? That attitude. All I'm doing is
focusing on me and my weakness. I need to give it to Him and ask Him to
strengthen me with His might according to His glorious power.
It's kind of funny
to reference Hebrews 12:1 and then talk about my hip injury but endurance
doesn't stop applying to me when I can't run anymore. In fact, it might apply
even more. When I have a physical injury and I feel like I am worthless to God,
that's for sure when I need endurance. I love that Hebrews 12:2 talks about
Jesus. Jesus needed endurance when He faced the cross. He understands endurance
better than we ever will. And now He is at the right hand of God. And I am
promised eternity with God. This life, these trials, they are just a blink of
an eye compared to the promise of eternal life with my almighty Creator.
Application:
I don't want to
become sluggish. I want to have diligence and endurance to the end. I want to
inherit the promise. Today I'm going to hang up Hebrews 10:36 on my wall so
that when I get discouraged I can be encouraged to have endurance.
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