Oh, the richness of this passage! A call to walk rightly with God and move toward holiness! Remember back near the beginning of our study when our frustrated author mourned that his readers were still stuck with “milk” when he wanted them to move past the infancy stage of faith and consume the real meat and heart of the Word? That’s this. This passage where we celebrate that we belong to God as His children with our names written in Heaven (vs23). Instead of vengeance and bloody sacrifice after bloody sacrifice, we celebrate the new covenant that brought us forgiveness and peace (vs 24).
Let’s look forward to this great redemption and the new Heaven and Earth (vs26-27)! And let’s live rightly here. That means we work at living peacefully with people even though that is often a painful process. We look after each other and point out bitterness when we see it because it damages so greatly and corrupts many (vs 15). Of course that means we receive it when someone spots bitterness in us, as well. And this means that we don’t give up our “birthright” as Esau did – for lesser things and temporary fixes. The “birthright” of born-again believers is to have the Holy Spirit within. Instead of turning from hard but awesome commands like loving enemies, we learn to listen to His voice more and more, even when that means disciplining and temporary pain and the refining of our souls. It’s all worth it and then some.
May God increase our desire to be more like Christ – to do the harder things!
My verse: Hebrews 12:15, “Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.”
My response: Father, help me to look after others and gently help any in whom I see a bitter root … always guarding against bitterness in my own soul as well. I sadly know its corrosive effects. Lord, help us to be “good forgivers” as Ruth Bell Graham put it.
