Today...Your Heart!

The writer of Hebrews uses some rather involved and even complicated rabbinic style arguments to make his point again and again that it would be foolish, even disastrous, for his readers to go back to the practice of the Old Covenant now that Jesus and God’s great salvation has come.

However, in chapters 3 and 4 we see that his main concern is not that they understand some intricate theological argument. His main concern is that the keep their hearts in the right place. This is lesson needed for every generation in every situation.

Three times in these two chapters he quotes from the Old Testament, “Today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion.” These readers and disciples of Jesus were not in danger of returning to Judaism and abandoning Jesus because someone had come along with a better argument. They likely were starting to drift (2:1) and were in grave danger because they were moving toward a condition of hardness of heart. So, not once, not twice, but three times over nineteen verses he urges them to remember this passage.

Surely, he does this because the issue of the heart is always supreme. When our hearts are soft, meaning open, receptive, pliable, thankful and surrendered we will hear God’s voice and be shaped and directed by it. On the other hand, if our hearts grow hard, as in bitter, cynical, doubtful, resentful, selfish or even comfortable, we will allow our on emotions and thoughts to direct us, finding it easy to ignore God’s directions.

I was about ten years into my life as a Jesus’ follower when he had to get my attention, showing me that positions and recognition were worth nothing if I was not keeping a soft heart. Now forty-six years down the road of discipleship that lesson is just as important as it was then. They keep coming, and what still matters is where my heart is on the day that is called TODAY (4:7)

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