Kansas City, Missouri, United States - Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - "Be Diligent" – Tuesday, 4 November 2014 - Scripture: Hebrews 5:11-6:12

Kansas City, Missouri, United States - Reflecting God – Embrace Holy Living - "Be Diligent" – Tuesday, 4 November 2014 - Scripture: Hebrews 5: Re-Crucifying Jesus
11-14 I have a lot more to say about this, but it is hard to get it across to you since you’ve picked up this bad habit of not listening. By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one—baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.
6:1-3 So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on “salvation by self-help” and turning in trust toward God; baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. God helping us, we’ll stay true to all that. But there’s so much more. Let’s get on with it!
4-8 Once people have seen the light, gotten a taste of heaven and been part of the work of the Holy Spirit, once they’ve personally experienced the sheer goodness of God’s Word and the powers breaking in on us—if then they turn their backs on it, washing their hands of the whole thing, well, they can’t start over as if nothing happened. That’s impossible. Why, they’ve re-crucified Jesus! They’ve repudiated him in public! Parched ground that soaks up the rain and then produces an abundance of carrots and corn for its gardener gets God’s “Well done!” But if it produces weeds and thistles, it’s more likely to get cussed out. Fields like that are burned, not harvested.
9-12 I’m sure that won’t happen to you, friends. I have better things in mind for you—salvation things! God doesn’t miss anything. He knows perfectly well all the love you’ve shown him by helping needy Christians, and that you keep at it. And now I want each of you to extend that same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish. Don’t drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them.
"Be Diligent" by Stan Toler
The dictionary definition of diligence includes the phrase “persevering application.” The ability to apply oneself to any task with perseverance is a trait we admire and encourage.
As Kevin Myers reminds us, “Lazy faith does not receive God’s blessing. God does not make things happen by magic. God calls people to diligently follow, though exhausted.”* The apostle Paul has a similar recommendation: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Gal. 6:9).
Like the Apostle History is replete with examples of people who refused to quit, such as Thomas Edison, who invented the incandescent light bulb; Cyrus McCormick, who gave us the reaper; and Robert Fulton, who invented the steamboat. Then there was Douglas Engelbart, who died just last year–he invented the computer mouse in 1968 when computing was in its infancy.
So when you’re tempted to quit, try one more time. Give it one more day. Then pray and ask God to help you hold on until the answer comes. Like the Apostle Paul, you can "press on" (Philippians 5:14). As long as hope is alive, press on with diligence.
* http://www.leadershipgravity.com/
Hymn for Today:

"Higher Ground" by Johnson Oatman, Jr.
1. I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I’m onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”
Refrain:
Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s tableland,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
2. My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
Though some may dwell where those abound,
My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.
Refrain:
Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s tableland,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
3. I want to live above the world,
Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.
Refrain:
Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s tableland,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
4. I want to scale the utmost height
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till heav’n I’ve found,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”
Refrain:
Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s tableland,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
Thought for Today:

“We are reminded that our hope can be sure that we will receive all that is promised if we persevere"(Diane Leclerc).
Prayer Needs:
for the development of Christian leaders in Trinidad and Tobago.
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