The Way to Escape a Hard Heart

Day 305: Hebrews 3:1-19

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” - Hebrews 3:12-14 ESV

Any time that God speaks, we have an important decision to make. Will we harden our hearts, refusing to do this life His way? Or will we refuse to harden our hearts (even if we don't completely understand) and submit to His will?

The key seems to be having other Christians surround and exhort us. What does the word “exhort” mean? It is the Greek word parakaleo, and it can also be translated as encourage or urge. This word is very similar to one of the descriptions that Jesus uses when talking about the Holy Spirit in John 14:16 (Helper, paraklētos).

How important is your encouragement to other Christians? It is vital. Apparently, our faith cannot survive without it.

Be an exhorter/encourager/urger today to as many as you can. In doing so, you have the potential to make an eternal difference.

Donald Guthrie’s comments on this passage are perfect to close us out today:

“It is certainly easier for individuals to be misled in isolation from other Christians than when sharing in fellowship with others. The fact that there was a tendency for the readers to forsake assembling with others (Heb. 10:25) throws light on the present passage. It is impossible to exhort one another unless one is part of a fellowship. In the present case a hardening of heart is linked closely with ‘sin’ and this must have been a tendency in the case of the Hebrews who were tempted to turn away from Christianity.”