Before you begin today’s reading and reflection, take a few minutes to create or find a “sacred space”. If you’re in your room, make yourself a small space with as few distractions as possible. Put aside any books, music, magazines; turn off your phone; get away from your email/facebook; turn off your music; etc.

Now, pull out your Bible, and as you take some deep breaths, pray this short prayer: “Lord, help me be still and listen to your voice now and throughout this day and the next. Amen.”

(You can choose to read the whole chapter, or just the passage that is shown)

 

¹ Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. ² For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, ³ how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, ⁴ while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

⁵ For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. ⁶ It has been testified somewhere,

“What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? ⁷ You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, ⁸ putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. ⁹ But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

 

Reflection:

1. Chapter at a Glance: This chapter begins with the first of several warnings found in Hebrews.  Christians must heed Jesus’ message.  It reveals the destiny God gives us through Jesus who took on humanity to break the enslaving grip of death and Satan on human.
2. The image of “drift away” pictures an ancient sailing ship, anchored near shore.  As the sailors sleep, the wind picks up, and the anchor begins to drag slowly across the sandy bottom.  By the time the sailors awake, the ship is pitching dangerously in heavy seas.
3. God’s word is a sure message, confirmed by witnesses who heard Jesus teach and saw His miracles, and confirmed by the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Yet it is so easy for us to neglect.  Unless we give constant heed to Christ’s word, we can drift unaware from our moorings and lost our way in life.
4. Have you neglected God’s word?  Have you ever found yourself drifting away from God?  How did you get back to God?  Ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen your commitment to give Scripture your constant attention and make sure to put God’s Word into practice.

 

Prayer & Journaling:

Stay with God for a little longer.  Continue to converse with God and listen to what he wants to tell me.  Then write down any thought and/or prayer in the  “Spiritual Journal” book.

 

Proverbs for Today 25:19-22

¹⁹ Trusting in a treacherous man in time of trouble
    is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips.
²⁰ Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart
    is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day,
    and like vinegar on soda.
²¹ If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,
    and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,
²² for you will heap burning coals on his head,
    and the Lord will reward you.