Hebrews 10: 23-25
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 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.
I remember a few years ago, when I was younger and fitter, I used to be a bit of a competitive cyclist. Racing up and down the country, I even managed to race against a couple of top cyclists in my day – never beating any of them mind you! Anyway I was in this particular race which went around Anglesey, it was an 80 mile gruelling undulating course, I’d been under the weather in the week leading up to the race and I was struggling early on. I managed to keep going for about 60miles, but then the pace began to quicken. I was suffering and was just about to pack in when my team mate came up alongside, put his hand on my back and then proceeded to push me along. He also gave me a few words of encouragement and a much needed glucose supplement. And you know that made all the difference. That was all I needed it was the incentive I needed to get to the finish line. Sadly I can’t go on to say I won infact I came about 50 out of 76. But that didn’t matter. What mattered on that day, was that I was almost beaten, I was about to quit, but I pressed on to the finishing line. I had come through.
You know I love this passage, its one of my favourites because I think it really resonates with me. And I hope it resonates with you as well.
The writer of Hebrews says ‘Let us hold unswervingly’, what a great word unswervingly. Theres no ‘airy, fairy umming and arhing’, here, ‘hold unswervingly’, do not flinch, keep going. And what are we encouraged to hold onto? – hope, the hope we profess in Christ Jesus. When everything else fails, when life gets tough, when we feel like we can’t go on, when were close to giving up, we are reminded to dig in, to hold on unswervingly to the hope we profess, why? Because he who promised is faithful. He will not let you down. He will not fail you. We can rely and trust in him. Infact, just like my cycling mate, he will draw alongside you and help you through, he will give you the strength you need to push on.
And that’s another reason why its so important that we as Christian brothers and sisters continue to meet together, because we are able to encourage and build one another up. You see, like a gruelling 80 race circuit, life can throw a few obstacles in the way, it can be hard living a Christian life out there in the real world. So that’s why the writer of Hebrews, says ‘And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together’. Its so important to support each other, and encourage each other in our Christian journey, to build each other up and to share life together and let us never forget that he who promised is faithful.