"We do not want you to become lazy..."

Continuing to read Hebrews 6:7-12
"We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised."

Since at least the sixth century the church has thought of laziness (sloth) as one of the "seven deadly sins." This spiritual problem has been thought about so much over the years that it has been given a technical name: "acedia." Acedia is a Greek word that refers to the malaise, or sluggishness of spirit, that lies unexamined in a person's life. Laziness is the symptom, the light on the dashboard, that warns of the presence of the problem.

This is a laziness that can be present in the context of a very busy life, a life filled with activity and far reaching goals. The specific reference of this laziness is our lack of love for God that results in our neglect of "helping his people and continuing to help them." We don't love God if we don't love what God loves, and God loves people. I can easily make the case that God also loves what I'm most interested in, of course he does, but that is not the issue here. The issue here is that "God so loved the world that he gave...". I am being challenged to get in touch with what God "so loved...". The specific object of his giving was the lost, broken, wounded souls that he created to live in fellowship with him.

This is a deep challenge for me. It is not opposed to my nature (I was created in the image of God, to be like him), but it is opposed to my history (which I'll spare you). The roots of acedia are not biological but historical whether viewed in terms of the individual or the entire sweep of human life on this planet. Courage is required to turn our backs on a history that feeds the malaise. Others have found the way through: "imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised." We may begin by imitating but we will end by inheriting. Love can be learned and it can dispel the gloomy spirit. Carry on with "faith" and "patience."

"...show...diligence..."

Continuing to read Hebrews 6:7-12
"We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure."

This is a much deeper challenge than it first appears to be. I was tempted to pass over this verse quickly, perhaps just to rap up this section with one last blog and move on to something else. Diligence has never been a problem for me. I always have a multitude of interests and projects on the go. Mix these in with all of the usual responsibilities of work and family life and you have both a mandate and a recipe for diligence. Fortunately I had one of those sober second thoughts before I moved away from this subject. Hermeneutical lesson number one: pay close attention to context. This verse is not about diligence. This verse is about the previous verse. Diligence is not the goal, it is the means to the goal. What the writer is pressing home here is not that we would be hard working, driven people but that we would be people who are all about loving God and others. Diligence of one sort can be the enemy of diligence of another sort. My focused, passionate life, either in my work or my hobbies, can submerge my attention to the fact that I live in a world where love is given and received, neglected and ignored, cherished and explored. The two great commandments are not about empire building, not about making my mark, not about asset acquisition, they say simply: love God (with everything you've got) and love the people around you (as much as you love yourself). If this seems like a truism, simply a restatement of the obvious, then I suspect that we are attempting to brush aside this challenge. These two basic commandments challenge everything we are as self-centered, material obsessed, worldly beings. We are being asked here to get in touch with the deepest priorities of the living God who "loved us and gave himself for us."

The promise that is attached to this application of diligence to our relationships with God and people is that we will "make our hope sure." The mark of the person who lacks faith is that he is "without hope and without God in the world." When I enter into meaningful relationships of love and nurture I will increase my sense of hope. Hope is a by-product of relationship. Relationship increases security, isolation feeds insecurity and meaninglessness. We are not being asked to do something here that has no payoff. Our duty to love is a deeply self rewarding activity. What greater gift could I give to myself than the gift of hope?

"God is not unjust..."

Continuing to Read Hebrews 6:7-12
"God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them."

The encouragement continues, against the background of a solemn warning, and procedes to address a potential point of discouragement. There are some brief phrases that pop into our minds from time to time as we travel along this path of producing a useful harvest. Phrases such as "its not fair," "its not worth it," "I'm just wasting my time," "I'm not appreciated," "it doesn't make any difference anyway," sneak up on us and club us over the head. These are the points in our Christian life when we find ourselves standing there feeling rather stunned. Its a short leap from these rather general statements to the more specific: "God isn't fair." If it helps me to acknowledge the presence of these thoughts at points in my life, I can remember Jeremiah (accusing God of being a deceptive stream, sometimes there's water and sometimes its just dry), or Jonah (accusing God of loving the wrong people and of giving him a bummer of an assignment), etc.

Just so that there isn't any confusion about this the writer of this letter takes the time to say: "God is not unjust." God takes note of all the things you have done for Him as you have served your family, friends, and enemies. Others may take you for granted, fail to thank you, remember only the bad and forget all the good. But "God will not forget your work and ... love ...". Everything we do for one another in this world is taken as "love shown to God." The same God who forgets our sins is the God who never forgets our love. Keep on working at the harvest. God is watching with loving attention.

"...we are confident of better things in your case..."

Continuing to read Hebrews 6:7-12
"Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case - things that accompany salvation."

The warnings are serious, the acceptance of responsibility for my spiritual life is serious, the consequences for neglect are serious BUT "even though we speak like this" we need to realize that there is a very powerful positive force at work in our life. "We are confident of better things." There is reason to be confident concerning our own lives and the lives of those we love who are in Jesus that "better things" than thorns and thistles will come up out of the good soil on which the seed of God's word has fallen. This is the point of balance that God wants us to live our lives on. Living in tension with the warnings and the promises. Listening equally to the curses and the blessings. Do not be discouraged by the presence of thorns and thistles, take responsibility for them, own up to them, repent of them and be confident that better things are in store for those who have given their lives to Jesus. There are things "that accompany salvation" that are working themselves out in my life. I can be confident of this as I let God speak to me about my actions, attitudes, thoughts and desires.

Not everyone, of course is in the same "case" in this world, but "we are confident of better things in YOUR CASE."

"Land that produces thorns and thistles..."

Continuing to read Hebrews 6:7-12
"Land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be destroyed."

It is abundantly easy to grow thorns and thistles, even on land (perhaps particularly on land) that previously has been cultivated for better crops. The recipe for growing weeds is neglect and inattention. No watering, fertilizing, or pruning is required. The takeover of the weeds makes the field "worthless," which is in stark contrast to the cultivated field, which is "useful."

We are here talking about the spiritual field that is our life. A spiritual field like this is not in a neutral position. It is "in danger." It runs a risk "of being cursed." Even a very good field has some content of weeds but danger to the harvest increases as weeds are allowed to multiply out of control. It is up to me to take responsibility for the weed content of my field. I value my field and keep a close eye on the invasion of weeds in my thoughts, my private life, my choices, and my relationships. I know that a field that gets out of control will not go on that way forever, there is an endpoint to every abandoned field: "it will be destroyed."

God has made us all landowners. How is the harvest coming along?

"Land ... that produces a crop ..."

Continuing to read Hebrews 6:7-12
"Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God."

As one who has received so much from God, who "drinks in the rain," shouldn't something more come from this than just the quenching of my thirst? Some immediate questions arise:

1. What useful crop might I reasonably expect to produce?

First and foremost is character, a.k.a. "the fruit of the Holy Spirit," Christian humanism, the renewing of the image of God in us. This is what Jean Vanier calls the project of "Becoming Human." This is about giving attention to the quality of soil that all of our actions are eventually planted in and harvested from. Because right action is never enough. Our "righteous must excede that of the Scribes and Pharisees." Out of this good soil will arise all kinds of loving, joyful, peaceful...actions that will bless those around us.

2. Who are "those for whom it is farmed"?

This refers to both God and people. God is the immediate recipient of every crop we produce, whether good or evil. We bless God or curse God by all of our responses to his abundant rain upon the geography of our life. The people around us, in our circle of relationships, may glean in our fields all that is left there for them because we have been faithful in caring for the precious seed that God has scattered on our life and watered with his love.

3. What is "the blessing of God" that I should expect?

This is God's "favor." As in: "the Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering..." (Gen. 4:4), "Whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord" (Proverbs 8:25), "A good man obtains favor from the Lord" (Proverbs 12:2), and many others. It is God's smile, God's companionship, God's investment in my life.

I have certainly produced my share of thorns and thistles that didn't bless anyone but oh, that I would produce a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed.

I am land that drinks in the rain often falling on it...
I am land...that produces a useful crop...

"Land that drinks in the rain..."

Reading Hebrews 6:7-12
"Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it..."

In a world of complaining and discontent, where nothing is ever good enough, fast enough, or accomodating enough it is a wonderfully contrary perspective to see myself as "Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it." Many of us go through life feeling empty or at least feeling like some essential piece of the puzzle to our happiness is missing. We don't often think to challenge these vague feelings. We give them an authority and a prophetic voice in our life that is unwarranted.

The truth about me is that I am "land that drinks in the rain often falling on it." The truth about us is that God "has given us everything we need for life and godliness" (II Peter 1:3). If I don't challenge the feelings of deprivation I am subject to be mastered by them.

Often it never occurs to us that without any change in our circumstances we could think about our life in a radically different way. Give it a try.

"See to it..."

Reading Hebrews 3:12-15
"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God."

The Biblical writers are unequivocal about where the responsibility lies for our spiritual condition. We are addressed directly: "See to it...". There are no exceptions: "that none of you...". We play games with ourselves where we imagine that in our case we are not responsible. Some other person or group of people, some other circumstance, some disability or limitation provides me with an exemption from responsibility for the spiritual condition I find myself in. I need to keep looking until I can find someone or something else that can "see to it" that I don't turn away from God. And of course I don't have far to look. There are all kinds of candidates for this role. The church is one of the biggest enablers in this regard. We have professional worship leaders who take responsibility for providing me with a meaningful worship experience, there are professional men and women of God who make sure I hear what God is saying to me on Sunday, someone else takes responsibility for my children's spiritual growth, etc. I pull in to church on Sunday like I pull in to the gas station. "Fill me up." The contemporary church environment breeds dependence. The problem with dependence is that when I am alone I have no resources of my own, someone else is the keeper of my resources. And I am alone most of the time, without my Sunday resources, away from the people "whoose job it is" to see that I don't turn away from God. Can I be blamed for straying under these circumstances?

"See to it..." Take responsibility for your own spiritual life. Worship God, listen to His Word, practice the truth, speak up for God in your world. Only then will other believers be of any use to you. "But encourage one another daily..." (v. 13). Encouragement does not take my responsibility away from me, it supports me in my choice to live for God. My family, my friends, my church, do not "see to it" that I live out the abundant life of Christ. They simply add more joy to a journey that I have chosen for myself because of my own convictions.

"...if you hear His voice..."

Reading Hebrews 3:7-11
"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts..."

In chapter two we were encouraged to "pay more careful attention to what we have heard." Attention is the first step towards transformation but this passage shows that transformation does not follow automatically from attention. We can give God our full attention so that we hear and understand his heart but fail to be changed by it. The rich young ruler asked Jesus a very insightful question and received an answer that led him to ask an even deeper and more personal question. Jesus gave him an answer that would have been transforming and the rich young man understood the answer in its depth, which is why he went away sad. Having grasped something of who Jesus was, having understood his own heart and the heart of Jesus, and having fully grasped Jesus words to him he chose to walk away. "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts...". It is at the point where action and obedience is required that we may surrender and release all or we may hold to what has become our God and walk away with sadness. This drama is playing itself out over and over again in the lives of people who have heard Gods voice. This is not about those who do not hear from God. This is about people who know the voice of God and say 'no.' 'This is a hard saying, who can hear it?'

Having heard and said "no" it is impossible to avoid going away sad. Attention to the word accompanied by affirmation of the word is transforming, liberating, and life-giving.

Drift

Reading Hebrews 2:1
"We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away."

Drift is a problem for anyone who has somewhere to go. (Of course there is the proverbial 'drifter' of the classic Western movie but this is actually a totally unrelated phenomenon - more akin to the Biblical 'lost'). The drifter, or potential drifter, of Hebrews 2 is someone who has found a path in life that is full of hope and promise. Drift in this case threatens to lead us away from great gain and into great loss. The emphasis here, however, is on drifting away because the writer wants to remind us of all that we have found in Jesus. Jesus said "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Drifting away from my rest in Jesus and back to weariness and burden is not something I really want to have happen. Jesus said, "If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink...streams of living water will flow from within." Drifting away from living water and back to unquenchable thirst is not something I want to have happen in my life. We could go on and on with this but you can see how much we would want to avoid drift.

The writer tells us that there is only one solution for the problem of 'drift' and that is 'attention.' Attention is a cultivated state of elevated awareness. The word "attention" has deep roots in the history of Christian spirituality. Many traditional spiritual exercises begin with a call to attention before God. Attention is a relationship enhancer. All of our relationships are enriched through attention. Attention to the words of God is the way to keep from drifting away from every good thing that I have come to enjoy in and through Jesus. The writer says that we must "pay more careful attention. The problem is not one of hearing or even of being able to repeat back what we have heard. The problem is that most of the time we are only half listening to God. We give assent: "yes, yes, I heard you." The challenge is to listen in such a way that when God speaks we "get it." We get what his heart is, we get his logic, we get his deep desires for us and for our life.

The project for this next week: try to listen more intently to the voice of God as you read his Word. Your relationship will deepen and you will inhibit the drift away from God. Try to expand this to include all of your other relationships. Become as conscious as possible of how well you listen and of how prepared you are to respond warmly and lovingly to what you have heard.