Todays readings.. Esther 7&8, Obadiah, Hebrews 3,4&5

“THE DECEITFULNESS OF SIN”

The word ‘sin’ is an obsolete word today, do we ever hear it used in personal conversations?  It would only be in a Bible talk and occasionally in discussions between brethren and sisters. What challenges we face in our godless world – but I doubt we ever tell anyone today that they are sinners – I recall a conversation in which the word “adultery” occurred and the young lady I was talking to did not know what it meant, had never heard the word before!

Our thoughts travelled along these lines this morning at we read the 3rd chapter of the letter to the Hebrews.  “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” [v.12,13]

  Think about that word “hardened.”  The constant exposure to some things – causes our minds to be “hardened.”  Those who work a lot with their hands outdoors know how their hands get “hardened.”  Surrounded as most of us are – constantly – by the godless ways of the world, if only in conversation, there is a danger we are becoming “hardened” to some degree – without realizing it!  Paul in writing to the Romans, reminds them how in the past “Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened” [11 v.7] Let us make sure we stay among “the elect.”

The conclusion in Hebrews ch. 3 is a lesson drawn from how the great majority of “those who left Egypt led by Moses … were unable to enter because of unbelief.” [v.16,19]. Yet they had seen the wonders God did as they left Egypt and how God had provided for their basic needs in the wilderness – and witnessed the divine dramas displayed to them at Mt. Sinai.  Our world is a wilderness – how ‘real’ is our belief? Are we drawing real strength of mind from God’s word every day?  Not just by reading it – but mediating on what we read – making it ‘live’ in our minds – to continually build up strength to resist “the deceitfulness of sin.”