Don’t treat the sin of unbelief lightly
Tune in to the Live to Love Scripture Encouragement podcast by using one of the following links:
Hebrews 3:17
And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
How would you like to be someone with whom God is angry for 40 years? I’m not thinking that’s a very good idea. Don’t you agree? I hope you can see the love of God in reminding us of that generation of people who having sinned, died in the wilderness. The author turned to Ps. 95 to encourage his readers to hold fast to the gospel promise of entering God’s rest. He encouraged them to hold fast with confidence to Christ to the very end of their lives by citing the failure of the Israelites who came out of Egypt.
Today’s encouragement from this verse is to remind us not to treat the sin of unbelief lightly. When our hearts harden, we will make excuses for sin. It’s amazing how we can deceive ourselves and rationalize sinful actions and words. All we have to do is look at the lies Adam and Eve fell for. “God didn’t really mean that we aren’t supposed to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Can it really be so bad? Eating of it won’t really kill us.” You can read about some of the same kind of deceptive thinking in the generation of which the author wrote in this verse. All of the verses after 3:12 warn us not to treat the sin of unbelief lightly, but rather take great care not to tolerate even the slightest vestige of it. “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”
My recommendation and encouragement to you is to live for the same purpose Jesus did: to reveal the love of God, by the grace of God, for the glory of God. If you will live by the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus, you not only won’t be in danger of angering God, but you will please Him. You’ll also have assurance that you will enter into His rest, because if you are with Him now in life, you’ll be with Him when He comes.
If you haven’t rethought about what you live for, then I encourage you to do so today. Are you living to love with Jesus for God’s glory as your purpose in life? Have you heard His word through His Son from John 15:5-11?
I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
I encourage you to hold fast to Jesus’ words until the end of your life. Abide in Him, and let His words abide in you. He promises to bear fruit in you if you do so.