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! Hebrews 6:1-3
Before we get rolling here, I just have to point out one thing… I don’t know about you, but for me, sometimes The Message version of a Scripture is so motivating. When I read the first few verses of Hebrews 6 today, I could not help but feel convicted… maybe you feel the same way. Anyways, moving right along today… 🙂
I’ll be honest: it’s easy for me to focus on the “preschool fingerpainting exercises” of my faith and miss the “grand work of art” that God really wants to grow me in. I seem to start off really strong after Sunday, but since I’m incredibly task oriented and to-do-list driven, by the end of the work week I often am going through the motions and missing the big picture of what God is doing in the midst of my everyday. I love that Hebrews 6 literally tells me that there is so much more to life than that… and when I’m barely able to find time to be with the Lord during a busy week, I can’t help but realize I’m just sitting here doing those preschool fingerpainting exercises when God’s painting a gorgeous work of art that He wants me to make time to be a part of.
I listened to a sermon the other day that reminded us as Christians that God loves us enough to give us free will. He is not going to make us do anything… all the way from preventing us from sinning to forcing us to trust in Jesus for our salvation. That goes for the things Hebrews 6 convicted me about, too: I have the choice to orient my life in such a way that I do exchange my meager attempts at fingerpainting for watching God paint a canvas. I can choose to live my days on this earth out in a way that puts Christ at the center of all things- my conversations, my errands, my emails, all of it. I have the choice to make the jump from the tiny to the grand- and God’s not going to make me do it. I have the choice, and He’s just waiting for me to take it.
What are grander things that God is waiting for you to choose this week? And what faith steps does God want you to take to grow your faith walk with Him, today? I fully believe that He wants us to trade in our meager attempts at finding full life on our own for the bigger, more beautiful things He’s already put in place for us. I hope that today you can be encouraged to get on with the grand work of art Christ has ready and waiting for you and to leave behind the lesser things. It’s time to grow in our faith and get on with what God has next for us.
We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us, in the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 6:18-20