Reflections from March 2, 2010

Today we move to Hebrews in our New Testament reading. The introduction to Hebrews in my New King James version is interesting in that it gives one of the purposes of this book is to help you integrate your heritage, cultural, ethnic, and other, into your Christian life. The Jews needed this, to learn how to maintain the dignity and value of their heritage from the Old Testament and merge it into the New Covenant established by Jesus.

Today's verse is Hebrews 1:3, "who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,"

The opening verses of Hebrews describe how Jesus is set aside from the angels. In fact, the angels are to worship Jesus just as they do the Father.

I read this like I'm hearing Paul Harvey tell me "the rest of the story." See, the account of Easter weekend is well read by all Christians, along with Jesus' time after His resurrection. But this verse gives the image of Jesus walking into His heavenly mansion, the one that He went to prepare for us, and sitting in His rightful place, next to our Heavenly Father. Kind of like a warrior coming home from battle, the soldier gets the best seat in the house, the warmest spot by the hearth, the best food we can offer, and all the attention is given to him, because he has provided for the salvation of our nation...so too, do we honor Jesus in this passage since He provided for the salvation of mankind, and now has taken His rightful place next to the Father who is "the Majesty on high."

From Proverbs 2:6 we have, "For the Lord gives wisdom, From His mouth comes knowledge and understanding."

All we have to do is listen with our ears open and read with our eyes open. If we do this, God will grant us wisdom and understanding. But I don't think it will always be evident as "book knowledge". I think the wisdom and understanding will evident when we stop and think through the consequences of an action before we do it, or see what could happen if we allow ourselves to enter into a situation that could be harmful. It comes in being able to see whether or not the Holy Spirit is telling us how to deal with another person, carefully, or completely trusting. God's wisdom and understanding is the type that converts to actions in our life, and, for me, has literally saved my life.

Blessings to all