Passage Read: Hebrews 3-4
Meditation Verses: 3:12-14
Thought
This is about salvation and eternal condemnation. Those who share in Christ are those who hold firmly to the end their confidence in the Gospel, in God, in God's Word and ways. They are the ones whose confidence leads them to fear the Lord and listen to His voice to do as He commands. The ones who perish, who are eternally condemned, are those who do not fear God and correct their ways. They continue in sin, they do not receive rebuke, either from God or His Word or from fellow believers. We who share in Christ are those who from beginning to end retain a humble, teachable heart that turns away from sin and holds fast to God, listening and learning from Him. Those who turn away from God are those who reject the encouragement of fellow believers to obedience and righteous living. Instead, their hearts grow hard, deceived by sin, remaining enslaved by it.
Application
Salvation is the result of a humble trust in God that submits itself to do as God desires. It is not a prayer prayed at some time in the past or a baptism or a catechism or anything else. Salvation is evidenced by and revealed through a continual readiness to receive and act on encouragement away from sin and into righteous living. I can have confidence in my salvation if I continue in humility and a desire to conform my life ever closer to the likeness of Christ. But if I allow myself to continue in sin, especially after having been rebuked by God's Spirit, His Word or His faithful people, then I'm being deceived by sin and should have doubts about my salvation. And may those doubts lead me to repentance rather than persisting in the deception of sin.