Hebrews 3:1,6-11 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

“1Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, set your focus on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess… 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast.

7Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear His voice,
8do not harden your hearts,
as you did in the rebellion,
in the day of testing in the wilderness,
9where your fathers tested and tried Me,
and for forty years saw My works.
10Therefore I was angry with that generation,
and I said,
‘Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known My ways.’
11So I swore on oath in My anger,
‘They shall never enter My rest.’”

Faithful in Service

As those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, our life focus should be on Jesus and not on the things of this world. Our lives should be surrendered to our Lord to doing His will. And our lives should be committed to the Lord to following Him wherever He leads us day after day. No longer should we be living under sin’s control, living to please our flesh, doing things our way. But now we should be living to please our Lord in all ways. And we must be faithful in service to our Lord to following Him wherever He leads us.

Not Hard Hearts

Sadly, not everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord with their lips is living to please the Lord with their lives. Many give lip service only to Jesus but by their lifestyles they deny Him. They profess faith in Jesus Christ thinking that all their sins are now forgiven and eternal life with God is guaranteed them, but they have this idea that they are still the masters of their own lives, charting their own course, living to please themselves, and that God is okay with that. Therefore they do not die to sin and obey God in life practice.

But God is not okay with that. He does not approve of deliberate and habitual sin in the lives of those who claim to be His followers. Now, He does not cut us off if we might sin (1 John 2:1-2), but we do not belong to Him if sin is what we practice and not obedience to God (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10,etc.). So, we cannot just claim Him as Lord and then continue to live in sin. For if we do, we will not have eternal life with God. We will not enter His rest.

Hebrews 3:12-19 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God. 13But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first. 15As it has been said:

“Today, if you hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts,
as you did in the rebellion.”

16For who were the ones who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed? 19So we see that it was because of their unbelief that they were unable to enter.

Exhort One Another Daily

How do we do that? Well, one way is the way that I am doing daily, as being led by the Lord, as called of God to His service, and that is in posting each day on the internet what I am getting from the Scriptures during my times each day with the Lord in the studying of His word. For the people in these times are mainly on the internet, at least in my nation, they are. And via the internet these writings can and do go out to people in other nations as well as in my own nation. So this is one way we can exhort one another daily.

Another way is through planned gatherings with other Christians in person where we are able to speak to one another to encourage one another. Or this can be done through phone calls or text messages or emails or letters or cards or chats or anyways possible where we are able to communicate with other people. And it is nice when they are able to communicate back with us where there is mutual encouragement. This is so needed in our world today. We need that fellowship of believers and that mutual exhortation, too.

And one of the reasons why this is critically important is so that none of us gets hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. But that is no guarantee that no one will, for many who profess faith in Jesus are still living in deliberate and habitual sin, even if they have others who are encouraging and exhorting them in the ways of the Lord and in the ways of holiness and righteousness and in obedience to our Lord’s commands. For they have hardened their hearts, and they are disobeying God, thus they will not enter God’s rest.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Our Focus on Jesus Christ
An Original Work / September 22, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship You

[A Prayer of Devotion to God Alone]