A friend of mine said that he often thinks of Christianity as a religion of “do good to get good, do bad to get bad.” In other words, God keeps score on us, and at the end we all get to find out if we’ve done enough to please God.
The book of Hebrews is written to a group of Christians suffering persecution for their faith. Following my friend’s logic, since bad things are happening to them, they must have done bad, right? Shouldn’t they stop following Jesus if this is what they get?
The book’s author encourages them to keep following Jesus because Christianity isn’t a religion like my friend spoke about. Rather, Jesus lived, died, and rose again on our behalf. He is the only one worthy of our trust, and we hold fast to him, in good times and bad.
He tells them that the faithful who came before us received “commendation” from God for their faith. This word means “speak well of.” In other words, God “spoke well of” people who were convinced that what God promised was true.
The good news for you and me is that God is pleased when we hold fast to Jesus, particularly in hard times. He doesn’t reward you when you do good and punish you when you do bad. He “speaks well” of you as you live by faith.
Father in heaven, thank you for speaking well of me when I hold on to faith in Jesus. May that be comforting to me in times of trouble. Amen.
Throughout This Day: Ask yourself, to what extent do I believe in a “do good to get good, do bad to get bad” Christianity?
Photo Credit: Nathan Timblin