How Then Can We Live…imitate the faithful

Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.

Hebrews 6:11-12, NLT

Fixing our thoughts on Jesus (3:1), asking WWJD, seeing that HWLF (He would love first), we are moved forward in our thinking by the writer of Hebrews: keep on loving others as long as life lasts. Living a life of love till the end makes sense. It appears though that these Judean believers were losing hope because of all the false teaching and persecution of the time. We too could throw up our hands at the messy theology around us and lose hope of ever seeing our family and friends come to know Jesus. 

Remember: these folks had just been chided for being slow to learn, told that by this time they ought to be teachers, and by constant use (of the word) have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil (5:11-14) instead of continuing to be spoon fed. Ah yes, perhaps we too are stuck in the basics.

What they needed, what we need to rise above our doldrums and avoid spiritual dullness and indifference is to follow the example of friends who persist, endure, remain faithful to live like Jesus. If you do not have such a group of encouragers, it’s high time. For instance, we have “Flourish” groups at our church for this very reason: greenacreswomen.org/flourish/.

There are individuals in my life who have taken me under their wing, beginning with the basics then moving me on to disciple others (2 Timothy 2:2). There are quiet, gentle women I admire for the beauty of their spirits (1 Peter 3:4). There are women in leadership who spur me on to love and intense study and good deeds (10:24). And then there are my “girlfriends”, six of us who dig into God’s word with all our hearts and a good measure of laughter. I call and they listen. We text and we celebrate and we care and we pray.       

Imitate the faithful, ladies. They are the ones who have fixed their thoughts on Jesus to show you the way to live.

Nancy P