Verse of the Day

February 11, 2016

Scripture

We must hold on to the hope we have, never hesitating to tell people about it. We can trust God to do what he promised. - Hebrews 10:23 ERV

Devotion

The Epistle to the Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians that lived in Jerusalem. Its primary purpose was to exhort those Christians to persevere despite the persecutions they had to face. Although they had not yet come to the point where they had to give up their lives for the cause of Christ, they were struggling (Hebrews 12:4). Despite their difficult circumstances, our verse for today exhorts them to do three things. 

The three things still speak to every Christian.

First of all, 'We must hold on to the hope we have.' Hebrews 3:14 says, 'We have the honor of sharing in all that Christ has if we continue until the end to have the sure faith we had in the beginning.' In other words, we should confirm our election and calling by God by continuing to believe in Jesus Christ and the gospel message until the end. At the very end of our lives, we should be able to say with the Apostle Paul, 'I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have served the Lord faithfully' (II Timothy 4:7).

Secondly, we must never hesitate 'to tell people about it.' Since we have such a great and comforting hope, we should tell others about the good thing we have. Like Paul, we should speak boldly and openly about it (II Corinthians 3:12). We should do our part to fulfill Jesus' prophecy: 'You will be my witnesses. You will tell people everywhere about me-in Jerusalem, in the rest of Judea, in Samaria, and in every part of the world' (Acts 1:8). If we have true hope in Christ, we should not keep it to ourselves.

Finally, 'We can trust God to do what he promised.' Our hope is in Jesus Christ and the gospel message. Our hope is that we have been saved by faith in Him and that we will spend eternity with Him. Our hope is that we will escape the punishment of those who do not hope in Christ. We can trust God to fulfill our hope. We should hold on to our hope and tell other people about it, because God is reliable, because God will come through.

Hope is the most precious thing we have.