A main theme in Hebrews. Chapter 15.
Are you tempted to fall away from your faith? Does the cold and callous behavior of others who call themselves Christians cause you to doubt your beliefs? Does the disbelief of others who question the Word of God make you doubt your confidence in the Scriptures, causing you to consider walking away from God?
If so, you’re not alone. The first-century believers faced the same situation. Their very lives were in danger, and all of their property had been confiscated merely because they were Christians. These types of trials still exist in the world today. The letter to the Hebrews was written to encourage them so they would hold fast to their confidence in Jesus and in the Christian faith.
Running from my faith happened to me twice. Once, in 1973, when I was a young teenager, after I had been sexually assaulted by someone I knew and trusted. And, next in 1993-95, after our family had undergone calamity after calamity, loss of our home, and harm to our children.
Both times, my heart turned hard as stone, and I quit praying.
The Scriptures gave this remedy to a group of people who had lost home, money, family, and reputation, merely because they believed in Christ:
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:23-25 NIV).
"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:23-24 NIV). #faith #Christianliving Click To TweetMy friend Janice, whom I called for advice in 1995 when I realized that I had quit talking to God, phrased it thus: “Turn around and face God.”
How does one do that? How do we face God?
Maybe you’ve already quit going to church. Maybe you’ve stopped attending your Bible study or small group. Maybe you’re avoiding your Christian friends. Maybe the passage above, Hebrews 10:23-25, is exactly the opposite of what you think you should do as you struggle with doubt.
But, look at it this way:
Suppose you recently started a difficult task, let’s say training for a new profession while working full-time to support yourself and your family. The training will take years, but you start this journey enthusiastic, sure you can do it. You have no doubt. However, as time goes by, you grow discouraged. The task is incredibly difficult.
Your work time intrudes on your study time, and your class time intrudes on your work time. You hardly have time to see anybody you know, because you’re so busy. As a result, it’s easy to pull inward and to feel as if your goal is impossible to accomplish. Gradually you quit taking classes. You stop studying. You just can’t do it anymore. You give up.
Now imagine that, rather than pulling away from everyone who might have supported you emotionally, you instead confided in your friends and family that you were struggling with discouragement.
What would have happened?
They would have expressed their confidence that you could do it. They would have offered words of encouragement. They would have helped to lighten your load in some way, maybe by running an errand for you, picking up your kid at school, or helping out with some household tasks.
What if you had also told your fellow students about your struggles? I’m betting you would have discovered that you were surrounded by people in the same situation. You all could have encouraged one another to continue. When you finished the program together all of you would have been so proud of each other for pressing on and achieving your goal. You would have been closer to one another.
Just by reaching out, you would have had a tribe of your people supporting you. This would have given you hope, and you would have realized that you could do it. Your goal would have been attained.
This is exactly why the author of Hebrews wrote the above passage. The body of Christ, the Christian family, functions the same way: We confide in other believers when we’re discouraged. We lift up one another when we’re down. We tell other believers that we know they can press on. We remind each other of the help of the Holy Spirit. We come alongside and help when help is needed. We strive for the same goal. We need one another.
During times of doubt and temptation, don’t quit attending church but continue meeting with other believers. Let others know your needs. Be honest. Have warm fellowship with one another.
During times of doubt and temptation, don't quit attending church but continue meeting with other believers. Let others know your needs. Be honest. Have warm fellowship with one another. #realChristianity #faith Click To TweetTherefore, if you’re one who is questioning your faith, I urge you to go back to church. Talk to your friends there and tell them how discouraged you are. If no one comes alongside you to encourage you and to lift you up, you need to go to a new church, because the body of Christ is supposed to help one another to press on.
Ask other Christian friends — kind, faithful, and loving friends — where they attend church. Go and be with them. Find real and authentic believers. Be authentic yourself. Let them know when you doubt or need help. Support them as they will support you. This is real Christianity.
Search for a church that lives this. Make these people your family. This is how Christ designed his people to live and to support one another.
You can do it! I know you can!
Find real and authentic believers. Be authentic yourself. Let them know when you doubt or need help. Support them as they will support you. This is real Christianity. #realChristianity #faith Click To Tweet
I have certainly found comfort in small groups during these times. Church is equally important as it would continue to point me to the Father, but the ability to be vulnerable only came in the small group. That is where I was truly helped in my healing. Praying others see the importance in your words.
Barb, I agree with you that within the intimacy of a small group it is much easier for opening up IF the leaders has created a safe place where we can be honest and open with one another. That is the atmosphere I always attempt to create when I lead a group, and that is the type of group that leaders demonstrated as I met in their groups. It made all the difference in my ability to heal and to recover during very dark times of my life. Thank you for sharing!
I am thankful God always forgives me and welcomes me back when I have strayed. I am thankful for friends and family, too.
Aren’t these people who surround us so essential! Sometimes they make all the difference between our being able to stand in faith and our folding under. They are a gift from God!
Melinda, I love this! I could relate to every word. This is a reality we all face at one point or another. We struggle to continue in our faith because of disappointments and hard times and/or we see the failings of other people at church and little by little we slip away. You are right. We should look for a church where others can walk with us and pray us through the hard times. Together we are stronger. We need each other. But we do need to ask for help, stay in there and “turn and face God.” Powerful, practical and much needed message. Bless you!
Yes! Thanks for adding this. The turning and facing can be really difficult when we feel he has betrayed us, because we hold a skewed understanding of who he is. My view of God at that point was more Zeus-like than Yahweh like. I viewed him as angry, vindictive, and lightning bolt hurling. Instead, he is Chief Shepherd, gently tending his sheep, caring for his lambs. He kept me hedged about, gently drawing me back to himself, keeping me from running wildly off mountain ledges in my running, and I had no idea. He is so good! He loves us more than we can ever imagine! He cares for us so tenderly!
This is so encouraging. Community is so key in the walk of faith. We need to rely on the strength of others when we are weak, and others will call upon our strength when they are weak.
Yes, Brittany! Community is so incredibly important, and we Americans often forget it, becoming loners when actually we’re part of the Body of Christ, an international family of all who believe, no matter who and where we are. We need one another badly. Great points!
Turn around and face God, great comment. Even if we first turn around in our anger to face Him, His all encompassing love will take ahold of us and bring us back. Love your honesty and openness.
Yes! When I turned and shook my fist in his face, yelled at him, and threw that book against the wall because I was mad at what it said about God and his nature, he was right there loving me and holding me secure. I just didn’t it until later. Thanks for your kind words, Yvonne!
Melinda, I’ve been reading and meditating on Hebrews 10:23-25. As you know, I’m in a complete wilderness right now. It seems so far from the Promised Land, I wonder sometimes if I’ll ever make my way back there again. But that is a lie from the enemy. This dark time has actually made me want to stay near to God, to stay close to His heart and His Word, prayer and worship because it’s the only way I feel I can survive this. I’m grieving what seems like the death of something I thought was sacred and secure. But I know not one tiny bit of this suffering will be wasted. Since God is faithful, I’m holding on to the hope I profess.
I”m sorry for the times in your story you mention here of such pain and devastation. But I’m so thankful you remind us the body of Christ is to function by lifting one another up during discouraging times. I feel blessed for all the comments you’ve made in our groups that you were praying for me. It means so much. Blessings sister! Thanks for always sharing from your heart and God’s Word!
I pray for you frequently, Karen, and I will continue. That time of trial in our lives was incredibly intense for a long time. So much damage was done, and yet, the long-term outcome was growth in faith, growth in humility, growth in awareness of the many people suffering around us, destruction of my judgmental nature, learning of God’s faithfulness and love no matter what happened, an even greater increase in my awareness of the preciousness of my beloved children, etc., etc. I could go on and on and on. I wouldn’t have chosen a single one of the trials that happened, and we were judged and gossiped about for some of the events that happened. And yet, God. He sent words of comfort from the most unlikely places. He provided kind people in places we never would have expected. He worked and continued to work.
Consider the people of God we see in the Bible. Not a single one coasts through life without a trial. For some like Paul, his trials were a daily thorn in his flesh. For Timothy, he had an upset stomach, a father who never understood him, and a responsibility to care for a mother and a grandmother while also serving the Lord wholeheartedly. Consider Epaphroditus who cashed out of his hometown to go and fulfill the dream assignment of being one of the young men who spent time with Paul, who traveled with him, who ran letters here and there with his words written on them. Instead, he got sick on the way, collapsed upon arrival, almost died, and then was sent back home. What a disappointment for him! AND YET, that quiet story has encouraged me so incredibly, since I fell sick just as a publisher began production on my first novel. God still saw me. I knew he did. He saw Epaphroditus all the way through until he went to be with the Lord.
The Lord sees you. He knows your pain. He has felt what you’re feeling. He currently IS feeling what you’re feeling, because his Spirit is right inside your body, hearing your thoughts, feeling your broken heart, keeping track of your tears. He will bring you through. You will have stories of praise one day. Now, you may feel as if everything has collapsed at exactly the wrong time, but the One who loves you more than any human being on earth ever has, truly does and will work this together for good in your life, for blessing, for growth, for eternal reward, for growth in every possible way. Press on, sister! Keep talking to your most supportive group of friends. Keep talking to God. You are a powerful tool in the hands of the Lord as you continue to write about your faith. We all face disasters, and you’re already helping many.