Hebrews 12:3-4

For Reading and Meditation:     Hebrews 12:1-13

We ended yesterday by saying that some things in life, such as the desire to have money, can be legitimate concerns but they must be looked upon as desires and never become goals. Permit me to differentiate between the two. A goal is a purpose to which a person is unalterably committed and something for which he or...

The words chastening, chasteneth, chastisement and chastened occur seven times in the first 11 verses of Hebrews 12:1-29. As a result it is easy for the casual reader to get a wrong impression. He might easily picture God as an angry Father who is forever whipping His children. This misconception arises from thinking of chastening as nothing but punishment.

It is a great relief to learn that chastening in the New Testament has a much...

This is a good verse to challenge us when we are tempted to give up too quickly and too easily. If we can't face minor difficulties, how can we expect to face major ones? If we buckle under the petty blows of life, how will we bear up under the sledgehammer blows?

We hear of Christians who sulk and pout because someone has offended them. Others turn in their resignation because someone has criticized them. Still others get their nose out of Joint because some pet idea has been voted...

My beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. § He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. § If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. § For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. § Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.Christ… suffered for us, leaving us an...

You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. § If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. § I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and...

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth;” who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return … but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. § Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and...

So I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest …. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.”In this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven … For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. § Having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.Let us run with endurance...