Is there anyone who thinks they do not need anything? With Christmas in three weeks’ time, younger ones especially are thinking of the things they need and that it would be good to receive! Our readings in Hebrews say, “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised” (10:36). Are you enduring?

We live in an impatient world and this is the ‘NOW’ generation. It is easy to get what you want ‘NOW’ and pay later. The folly of living beyond ones’ income, however, eventually becomes whether this applies to individuals, companies or countries. But the Letter to Hebrews is about something entirely different. Paul tells them, “do not throw away your confidence which has great reward” (10:35). We tend to get rid of the things we do not need. But confidence?

What do you and I have confidence in? Do we have confidence in God’s knowledge and oversight in all that happens as a result of the “freewill” He allows? What confidence do we have in what will happen in the future? God has oversight of that and can intervene as He chooses, as our readings frequently reveal.

We saw lessons illustrating His oversight in the lives of individual such as Job and Jonah; both men had temporarily, lost sight of the will of God working out a pathway in their lives. Are we any better? If we commit ourselves to being children of God and live for Him in faith – then we will sense more clearly His purpose in the things He allows (or causes) to happen in our own lives and in the world.

Take notice of how Hebrews 10 ends; “my righteous one shall (aim to) live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him (or her). But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls” (verses 38,39). Wise men have written about ‘the power of positive thinking’ but Hebrews reminds us of the words of Jesus himself, “the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:14). Let us try harder to see the need for endurance and put what we see into practice.