God Speaking

“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

(Hebrews 10:23)

Our little grandson loves to watch on T.V., a sweet cartoon programme about a group of small dogs who each have a special gift of different sorts, yet each dog uses his or her gift to help others who may be in trouble. Those in any sort of peril, radio in to the small boy who organises the little band and he reassures the fearful ones that help is at hand and quickly marshals his trusty group of willing helpers to overcome any problem however big it might be, and his message which reassures the ones in danger is to hold on tightly because help is on the way.

The writer of the book of Hebrews was basically sending forth the same message to the small, early churches, who were beset by all sorts of opposition, doubts, persecution, threats and also needed to be reminded to hold on, not to be frightened, not to despair, not to give in to those anxious thoughts, but to remember the faithful one who has promised to never abandon his loved ones.

When Paul is writing to the church at Thessalonica, he elaborates on this message;

“Test everything, Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21 – 22)

Sometimes we can be confused by what we are holding on to and mistakenly hold on to the wrong things, so Paul was warning the Thessalonians, and of course us, to examine carefully what we are clutching so closely to ourselves. If what we are holding on to so fiercely are bad memories, slights from friends, bosses etc. anger, jealousy, pride, we are obviously spending far too much energy on what is not good. We have to look seriously at what we are devoting so much of our time to and loosen our grip on what is worthless and what may distract us from experiencing that close walk with our Saviour.

One of my favourite verses about holding on to, is found in Deuteronomy and when I read it I get a beautiful mental picture of a small child clutching a parent’s hand tightly and feeling safe as long as that big strong hand is encircling his;

“It is the Lord God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.” (Deuteronomy 13:4)

The final chapter of the Bible echoes this same message reminding us to hold on to and be filled with hope and to be unswerving in holding on to the promises of Jesus, not to be swayed by false teachers who may weaken our faith, but to stand firm and let no one dissuade you from holding fast.

“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.” (Revelation 3:11)