About
a month ago I attended a wedding. I don’t
know about you, but weddings are simply amazing to me. You see the beautiful bride walk down the aisle
with her father leading her to her soon-to-be husband – the love of her
life. But what I loved about this
wedding was how the priest took the time to explain to, what appeared to me,
was a lot of non-believers, how and why he had the couple kneeling towards the
tabernacle. The traditional readings
were read (Genesis 2:24 and Mark 10:8). We see how the bride let’s go of her
earthly father and is now joined together in marriage to this man. He explained that this represents our
marriage to the Lord Jesus (Rev. 19:7-10).
The priest mentioned how this girl’s father was someone she looked up to
for her entire childhood, yet, here she’s looking up to and honoring her
husband. And as these 2 – this couple –
focused their attention to what was in front of them – Christ – the center and
focal point of marriage, that’s where we, the entire congregation were looking
at as well, we all were drawn to the focal point of marriage.
Here
in Hebrews 3, the writer is explaining that although Moses is important, a
patriarch, as we move forward and listen to God’s Word, our growth and focus
changes. We come to know and trust
Christ as our Savior. We let go of the
old and cling to the new. Our focus
should remain with the One that NEVER changes.
We need to acknowledge Him for who He is. (v. 3)
We
receive warnings in this reading to remember those who grumbled and
complained. (vs. 16-18) They were left to wander 40 years. Are you feeling alone and wandering? Are you feeling isolated? Are you hearing “No” to a lot of your prayers
and desires? Perhaps you’ve lost your
focus. Are you holding onto something
old? A tradition or belief? A habit or routine? Guilt and shame from your past? God is a God of love and mercy and He never
leaves us alone. Look forward. Don’t look back, just as this couple had to
let go of all those people who filled that church. Their focus was on the One, Jesus Christ, who
would show them the way to a blessed marriage.
He is the One who leads us all and we need to listen to Him and not let
our hearts become hard because of the past or because of an unmet desire. We need to put on righteousness and have the desire to become someone
better so that those with unbelieving hearts will turn to Christ as well, just
as I am sure, someone in that church that day did because that priest took an
opportunity to speak the truth – the truth that sets you free – and pointed us
all to Christ and why we were brought together that day because of Him. He took the time to encourage everyone there
that day (“today”) to not be hardened by deceitfulness and to “hold onto our original conviction to the
very end” (vs. 12-15).
