#DailyDevotion Strive, Yes Strive To Enter God’s Rest

Hebrews 4:11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

 

Hey, I thought I was saved by grace through faith and now you want me to strive to enter that rest? Well, yes. Those Israelites forgot all that the Lord had done before their very eyes, the plagues, the parting of the sea, the pillar of fire by night and smoke by day, and heard the very voice of God from the cloud and yet they disobeyed the Lord and perished in the wilderness. What do you have?

 

You have the promises of God in Christ Jesus, the sacraments, and one another. God will preserve you in this faith, which is a gift of God, through these means. To strive to enter into God’s rest is to make use of these gifts of God and to let them have their way with us in our lives. We are called to make God’s Word a daily part of our life. We should read it, meditate upon it, talk about it with other believers and then if we are told to do something in that word in which we read, we try putting it to use during the day and live our life according to it.

 

That same word of God we read and meditated on should be the basis of our prayers for the day. If there was a bad example, pray the Lord will not use you as a similar bad example. If there was a good example, pray the Lord would use you in a similar fashion. Pray it for yourself, your family, your fellow congregation members and the church at large.

 

We make use of our baptism by remembering the promises the Lord has made in baptism, that our sins are forgiven us, we are joined with Christ in his suffering, death and burial and that we have been raised to newness of life. We have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and have received a promise of endurance.

 

We join together with other Christians around the altar of the Lord. There with fellow believers we receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in which we are sealed with the New Covenant. In this covenant the Lord Jesus promises us that he forgives us our sins and remember them no more. That here in this sacrament he puts the law in our hearts, i.e the Spirit of God, who teaches us to know the Lord through this covenant. We receive strength to do all the Lord wants us to do.

 

Finally, in the gathering with the fellow saints with the Word of God, the Sacrament and prayer we are encouraged and strengthened by one another to hate evil, do good and trust in the Lord in all our ways.

 

Oh Almighty Word, keep us always safe in your Word and spur us to strive to enter your rest by making use of the means of grace you have provided us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.