keep on

Don't throw away this confident trust in the Lord,

     no matter what happens.

Remember the great reward it brings you!


Patient endurance is what you need now,

     so you will continue to do God's will.

Then you will receive all that He has promised.

Hebrews 10:35-36



I don't know exactly when God brought these two verses into my life - maybe in May of 2006? That's a date I have in my Bible.

The thing is, He's been gently reminding me of this truth ever since.

     Well, most of the time it's not so gentle - it's more like He pokes me in the eye with it!


I keep hearing Him drop the thought quietly in my head, "Don't throw away this confident trust in the Lord."

     Iow, don't quit.

     Don't doubt.

     Don't give up.

     Don't put your heart & mind in park.

     Believe.

     Trust.

I think that's what it's been all about these last 8 years in particular...

     trust.

     Do I trust Him, or not.

     I either do, or I don't.

     A lot of the time I think trusting a little bit is kind like being pregnant a little bit - there's no such thing.

     I either trust Him, or I don't.


"no matter what happens" keeps coming up in my life - not just here, but in other scripture in other places.

     no matter what.

Iow, throw out that success orientation,

     quit equating a life of servanthood & discipleship as the same thing as "the American Dream",

     live with the fact that you live in a world that has been so sin-soaked for millenia that it is so far from the perfect world God created, no wrecked, so awry, so screwed up, that just about anything can happen, & probably will.

     our sinfulness creates something, & it ain't good.

It ain't gonna be an easy life.

It's just the way it is.

Adjust.


But there are some rewards to keeping on keeping on.

No, they're probably no gonna be a glittering life filled with recognition.

Shoot... most people won't remember the good we've done for very long - out of sight, out of mind.

Anymore, we've ALL got the attention spans of gerbils.


We must keep on so that we fulfill our part of the overarching purpose God has for each of us,

     a purpose that fits into the big picture called humankind.

We may not know the who, what, where, when, why (especially the why!), or the how.

We just know we have to keep moving forward, remaining within His will for each of us.


And there at the end of verse 36, the author says if we remain faithful,

     if we keep on,

     we'll see the reward for that faithful.

I've come to realize a big chunk of that reward I ain't gonna see until I get to heaven.

And yeah, I'm just as polluted with the instant gratification desires as everyone else in our culture & nation.

I might get to see some of the results of what it is He has for me to do.

But most of it I don't think I'm gonna see until later - like in heaven.

Now, of course, I'm so humble & holy that I'm perfectly content to wait until heaven to understand it all.

Yeah, right!!!

We all know better than that!


Anyway, read all of chapter 10 in Hebrews. You'll get the other stuff that will help you understand even more the importance & magnitude of what God is saying through this author.

(They don't know exactly who wrote Hebrews - most folks think Paul - but the author never identifies themselves - evidently back then they all knew who wrote it.

Sorry I started typing I couldn't shut up. Trust me, I didn't set out to write an epistle this morning.

Anyway, write these 2 verses down & carry them around for a few days or weeks. The encouragement & challenge just may help you walk through some things you'll face.