#DailyDevotion Don’t Have A Wicked Unbelieving Heart

Heb. 3 ¹²See to it, fellow Christians, that none of you has a wicked, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³Yes, encourage one another every day, as long as you can say today, to keep sin from deceiving anyone of you with its pleasure and hardening your heart to the truth. ¹⁴We share in Christ if we only keep our first confidence unshaken to the end.

It’s a bit of a jarring admonition here. To be brothers here is to be Christian. Yet, some who were once brothers are no more. Instead of keeping their faith and heart pure, they developed a wicked and unbelieving heart that turned from the living God. So we are to see to it, to take care, to watch out for ourselves. Our hearts can be fickle. Our sinful flesh, the world and the devil are always there trying to tempt us into sin. Though the greater temptation is to reject Jesus outright because of persecution. The other more sinister and sneaky thing is the cares of this world may seek priority in our lives. Jesus tells us in His Sermon on the Mount not to worry about having the things of the world but to seek the Kingdom of God first, and these things will be added to us.

We are called to gather together, yes worship together (a warning later brought up again in chapter 10). When we gather together we are to encourage one another as long as we can say today. Today is all we ever have. Twelve step groups talk about taking it one day at a time. They gather regularly to encourage one another. They got this from Christianity. If unbelieving (and not all are unbelieving in the Living God) can gather regularly to encourage one another, how much more should the children of God do so. In this gathering together we should confess our sins. Keeping sins a secret from one another gives power to our sin to take over us and to deceive us into thinking what we are doing is ok. When we confess our sins we can hear the words of forgiveness of Jesus from our fellow Christians. Hearing this Gospel gives us power over our sins, keeps them from overcoming us and keeps them from deceiving us, lest we slip away.

Let’s face it, many sins are fun. The give us pleasure. As we note in Gen. 3, “⁶When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good to eat, a delight to look at, and what anyone would want in order to get wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. Then she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” Now some in the faith have departed it because they did not want to lose their loved ones. It could be a child, a neice or nephew, a parent, but they come out with a sinful behavior and instead of condemning the behavior we turn from God’s Word and give approval to it “in the name of love.” A love that is not from God, who is Love. It is a love that loves the creature more than the Creator. You don’t have to hate the person and treat them horribly to love God. You should call them to repentance. That is true love that has its origin in God. But many harden their hearts to the truth to love humans more than God.

Verse 14 is a call for perseverance. What does it mean to share in Christ? It is to be joined to Him in who He is, what He is according to His human nature, and what He possesses. Mostly it is to share in His life, His love, His grace, His mercy, His kindness and His forgiveness. It is to share in His name. (Ex. 34:6)

Heavenly Father, continually give us Your Holy Spirit and the fellowship of all the saints so we may not be deceived by the pleasure and desires of sin but to remain faithful to Christ Jesus our LORD and confess with Him and You what You have spoken to us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.