DILIGENCE AND HOPE
Tuesday – November 14, 2017
The featured picture is off the back deck of the Winslow Seafood and Steak House. It is a wonderful setting any time of year but particularly in the fall. The bridge connects Winslow to Waterville Maine. The water is the Kennebec River and is abundant. The large building is an abandoned factory. The Church today is empty, proclaimed faith is false and empty, there is a bridge to real faith which is diligence with the Word of God (the living water of God) that cleanses us and is the building blocks of true Faith. Bath in the water and take the bridge Church! Now, let’s review our text in the wonderful Book of Hebrews.
Hebrews 6:10-12 (KJV)
10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:
12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Today I will focus on the eleventh verse (eleven is the number of alignment [with God]). Here we find the word “diligence” which is associated with “the full assurance of hope”. Seems like when we are not diligent we are not going to enter into the rest of God or provision of God fully. Not being diligent is sin, as it mentions in the next verse it is slothfulness. Not being diligent violates Bible faith, love, and hope, leaves us ineffective in the Kingdom of God and our own lives as well. According to the Strong’s Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary this word “diligence” is defined as follows: speed, dispatch, eagerness, earnestness, business, (earnest) care, forwardness, and haste. I think we can take away from this that God does not mean this to be a lifetime endeavor, we are to attack with all due haste making “the full assurance of hope” a present reality not something in the sweet bye and bye. We are not to approach the Word of God like a baby bird in the nest waiting for the Pastor to cram a worm down our throats. We are responsible and on the Last Day our Lord will look each of us in the eye and we will answer for the lack of diligence or be commended and rewarded for diligence. Which side of that do you want to be on, I’ve chosen where I want to be. When we look at diligence in the English Thesaurus we find words like: assiduousness, industry, meticulousness, thoroughness, attentiveness, carefulness, and persistence. The antonym of diligence is carelessness. We must ask, “what is my attitude towards the Word of God?”
Next, we find the phrase “the full assurance of hope”. The word assurance here is confidence free of unbelief. By way of a reminder recall that God is trying to spur us, the reader, on saying you have been babies on milk way to long now get about the work of the Kingdom, don’t be lazy. Get onto strong meat! Godly or Bible hope is a promise of God about which there is no doubt of it being a reality in a person’s life through diligence and love by faith. Let’s review a familiar verse about faith and hope.
Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
The word “substance” here means foundation, that upon which we stand, and that upon which we stand is our belief that God does not lie. When faith is exercised as led of the Spirit of God in love (obedience to Scripture, selflessness, in Covenant) our hopes (His hopes of us) will be a reality. Our hope, the promise of God is the unseen thing and our faith in Him (The Word) brings it from the unseen to the seen. We all have hopes that are promises of God in His Word, our diligence, our faith, our love makes them a reality. I am talking about the finances God wants for each of us. His will is not for us to have just enough. I am talking about the health God has given us. I am talking about our children and the loved ones of our house, and the ministry each of us have been assigned. Are we being diligent or bumping along hoping like the world filled with uncertainty, fear, and torment?
Hebrews 6:12 (KJV)
12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Take a look at the Message Bible translation.
Hebrews 6:12 (MSG)
12 Don’t drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them.
Any unfulfilled promise in our lives is our responsibly and our responsibility alone. God is not slack. When we sing “all to thee I give” on Sunday morning and our lives are a disaster area, we are a liar. I do want to bring a distinction into our thinking. There is a difference between the promises which concern us as individuals and those which concern others. We are each a freewill agent, and that other person is making decisions whether they be good or bad just as do we. The length of time it takes for things (promises) concerning us to come into this physical reality is dependent upon our walk with God. The length of time it takes for our hopes concerning others can be quite variable even when we are very diligent. That is not to say that the hope will not be realized however it may not be something we witness in this life. I will pick up right here tomorrow.
Until our next publication, I speak blessing into your life right now, receive it in the name of Jesus, confess it, and walk it out with thanksgiving.
Numbers 6:24-26 (KJV)
24 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
25 The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
26 The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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