No forewarning.  No getting ready to look one’s best.  No preparation for what was ahead.  Just a door standing open and a command to come on up.  Perhaps nothing could have prepared John for what he would see.

Revelation 4:1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”  2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.

His was a glimpse into the very throne room of God.  Clearly, he writes as one grasping for visuals, any words to describe the indescribable.   Looked like.  Had the appearance of.  Eyes everywhere.

He sees God on the throne (which his Jewish background would have told him that you can’t see God and live).  Was his heart pounding?  The living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks!  Elders throw themselves on the ground in worship!  It’s like John is frozen by what he’s seeing.

A mighty angel appears and asks who will open the scroll?  But no one can.  John stands in stunned silence as the whole of his theology about the redemption and vindication of Israel hangs in the balance and all seems lost.  No one can! Unable to control his grief, he weeps.

Then he sees the Lamb of God, Christ Himself.  He is worthy.  Worship extends to the Lamb in a seven-fold echo sung by multitudes of everyone everywhere.  There is complete worship of Christ by all creatures He has made.

Thoughts for today:

Read Revelation 4-5. 

This final scroll would usher in judgment and the consolation of Israel.  The chosen people have been waiting for this a long time.  The thought that the scroll would remain sealed, and all his hopes dashed—it was too much for John.  How do you feel when your hopes are utterly destroyed?

How does this form a pivot of worship from God the Father to include worship of Jesus Christ? 

Read what it says about Jesus in Philippians 2:6-11, “9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.

Continuing on, in Revelation 1:4-5, it is written, “John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.”

How simple is this!  It’s a letter with an address label.  To: 7 churches.  From: God the Father, (arguably to complete the Trinity and symbolized as perfect 7) the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ.  John is simply the commissioned scribe.

The contents of the letters to the 7 churches are being given to John.  “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.  The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in My right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” (Revelation 1:19-20)

What you have seen (past), what is now (present), and what will take place later (future).  Scripture is that way.  It’s history.  It’s instruction for today.  It’s prophecy.

Not completely a form letter to each of the 7 churches although they all follow a pattern, the contents can be found in Revelation 2:1-3:22.  Jesus walks among the churches and the angels are there, too.  Jesus sees what’s going on.  So, He sends—to varying degrees and personalization—His words of praise and encouragement, caution and warning, and words of displeasure and judgment. 

Thoughts for today:

Read aloud Revelation 2:1-3:22.

Jesus and His angels are among the churches today.  What do you think they see?  Faithful witnesses and persecuted believers?  People who are Sunday club churchgoers unless there’s football or basketball on TV, or a child’s sports league, or breakfast out, or a bike ride on a nice day?

If Jesus were to write a letter to your church, what would He write about its witness and perseverance?

Most of the churches among the 7 (which are thought to be actual churches of Asia Minor, BTW) had bad stuff going on.  There were two churches about which Jesus had only praise: Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-10) and Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7-13).  What can you learn about how to live from these two positive examples?  What cautions should we take from the rest of them? 

How many of them had work to do?  (Trick question).

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.

Scripture says, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near” (Revelation 1:3).

God says the time is near.  He doesn’t say to decipher everything or look for secrets to impress your friends.  God simply wants you to read and hear the words.  It’s a matter of paramount priority.  He doesn’t say when it’s all going to happen or give us a complicated timeline with an interpretive rubric to check boxes and predict when Jesus is coming back. 

Consider this vignette
as the Apostle John giving us an instruction manual
about how to read this book. 
Read the lines with urgency.

Questions for today:

Revelation is either people’s most interesting book, they dismiss it as untrue because it’s too weird, or it frightens them because it’s hard to read.  Why do you think people find it interesting?  What do you think intimidates them?  What do you think when reading Revelation?

Read Revelation 1 aloud.  It only takes around 3 minutes to read it aloud.  If we read the lines can the Holy Spirit be trusted to guide necessary understanding?

How does examining for impossible level of hidden details provide a self-fulfilling prophecy about its being too hard to read?  How does a pixelated view and ignoring symbolic language lead to logical rejection of Revelation?

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  What part of “all” doesn’t include Revelation?

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.

A little presumptuous, wouldn’t you say?  Trying to cover Revelation in 40 days?  Even Calvin didn’t do a commentary on Revelation.  Who are you?  Are you out of your mind?

Well, I’m not doing a commentary, but what I plan to do over the 40 days of Lent is to give 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire you to read Revelation as it is written.  Not try to read between the lines.  Not try to fabricate a decoder ring to get all the secret meanings.  Just simply to read the lines and inspire you to study more. 

Sometimes people make things too complicated.  They enhance down to the pixel and pick apart every detail instead of zooming out for the big picture. 

While study for detail is important, so there is also value in what Scripture says, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near” (Revelation 1:3).

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Lent begins Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Please join me.

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.

I’ve never been much of a runner.  I admire people whose bodies cooperate with that activity, and yes, I guess I envy them a bit too.  I envy them especially when see a resolution for the New Year from the Book of Hebrews: Run with Perseverance.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

Does it say walk with perseverance?  Nope. 

While walking speaks of a contemplative faithfulness step by step and a long-term steadiness of endeavor, running is different.  It bursts with an eagerness, a passion, a rhythm, a pacing, and a physical abandon.  Wild.  Free.  

Thoughts for today:

What hinders you?  Anything in your past or present?  Anything in your heart or your memory?  Do you have any sin binding you and keeping you from running the race of faith?  What does this passage say about how to deal with it?

It’s the cry of the ages: Why is nothing happening?  Nothing to vindicate the righteous ones?  Nothing to punish those doing evil?  Why is nothing happening to change my situation even though I think I’m doing everything right that I know how to do? 

We’ve all been there at some point, I’m sure.

Scripture talks about that type of individual and that type of cry.  In it, we find another resolution from the Book of Hebrews : Live by Faith.

Hebrews 11:13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.  14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.  15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.  16 Instead, they were longing for a better country– a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

God is not like Obi-Wan Kenobi.  In one of my least favorite scenes of Return of the Jedi (because I have theology as my viewing lens), Luke confronts Obi-Wan:

Luke: Obi-Wan! Why didn’t you tell me? You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father.

Ben: Your father was seduced by the dark side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed. So what I have told you was true… from a certain point of view.

Certain point of view?  Cut the psychobabble, Obi-Wan.  Truth is not relative. Just own up and say you lied to Luke, and we all know why.

Anyway, God isn’t like that.  He didn’t promise Abraham a land of his own and then tap-dance to spiritualize it: “Oh, just joking. I meant in heaven, not real land.”  Sorry. God promised actual land and He delivered actual land, true after Abraham died. 

But why not earlier?

So that Abraham would live by faith. His would be very real land inherited by very real descendants, but all of it was God’s promise fulfilled as the fruit of Abraham’s faith. Furthermore, because of his faith, Abraham is alive. He lives in the eternal home God planned that would be Abraham’s as well. Abraham lived by faith and God delivered in His timing and Abraham–fully alive in heaven–saw fulfilment of these promises that during earthly life he only welcomed from a distance.

Thoughts for today:

Living by faith is not easy.  What do you do to live by faith?  Are you still waiting upon God for something?

The next resolution in our New Year resolutions from the Book of Hebrews would be to Draw Near with a Sincere Heart. 

Have you ever heard people say that since others are so sincere in their beliefs that they–and their beliefs–deserve our full acceptance? Nonsense. Sincerity is good, but it’s not “an end in itself.” The sincerity can be good or sincerely deluded. 

It’s the object of our sincerity that carries the truth value,
not the simple measure of how sincere we are.

Look at this passage and see what a Christian’s sincerity is rooted in:

Hebrews 10:16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” 18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. 19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart…

Our sincerity is rooted in the work of Christ –a finished work which paved the path to God.  It was Jesus’ sacrificial and priestly work alone.  His is the new and living way.  That’s why our sincerity matters.

Questions for thought:

Maybe you’ve heard people say, “What can I do to earn salvation?” The answer, of course, is NOTHING–nothing to earn it. Do you have confidence that you have been forgiven? What is your confidence grounded in?

How can you display the sincerity of your faith in Christ?

What difference does it make that Jesus is the great priest over the house of God?

Between now and our upcoming Lenten Devotional Series “Revelation in 40” we are looking at New Year resolutions from the Book of Hebrews.  It’s February now and most people have long forgotten their resolutions.

Not me because ours come from Scripture and are timeless: Pay Careful Attention.  Fix Your Eyes on Jesus.  Don’t Harden Your Heart.  Don’t Give Up.  Finish Well.  Embrace the Promise of God’s rest by faith and obedience. Approach the throne of grace with Confidence and now Move on and Grow Up.

Sounds kind of harsh, yes?  But no one should want to remain immature.  We remain immature when we refuse to learn what will bring us to maturity.

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity.

I recently celebrated a birthday and one of my grandsons chirped out “Happy Birthday!”  Since he frequently talks about how he’ll be when he gets older, I replied, “Why thank you!  Do I look a year older?” He beamed and shouted out an enthusiastic “YES!” Children say the darndest things.

Questions for today:

As time goes on, are you growing in Christ? 
Is it visible to those who see you and know you? 
In a spiritual sense, are you still content eating from the children’s table or off the kiddie menu? 
What types of things can you resolve today to grow in Christlikeness and experience more of Jesus?

Have you ever noticed there are naysayers and black-pill dispensers everywhere who attempt to snuff out any smidgen of hope that things will get better? They can make us feel like God doesn’t care because the struggles of this earth, well … they just keep on struggling. 

Into that darkness, God speaks assurance, competence, and compassion.

Assurance:  Hebrews 4:13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Competence: Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

Compassion: Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are– yet he did not sin.

What should be the result of this kind of assurance? That a very good and perfect God (who loves us enough to send Jesus to pay for our sin) tells us that nothing is hidden from His sight?  What should be the result of knowing that He has overcome even death and is at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for us?  What should be the result of knowing He is not just competent, but also gracious and compassionate?

Hebrews 4:16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Pay Careful Attention.  Fix Your Eyes on Jesus.  Don’t Harden Your Heart.  Don’t Give Up.  Finish Well.  Embrace the Promise of God’s rest by faith and obedience. Come to His throne of grace, confident that you will find mercy there.

Questions for today:

What are some ways you can display your confidence in Christ? 

Why might we require mercy? 

The same word for mercy is often translated compassion.  There is wide overlap, but does mercy differ from compassion?  Read through the following:

For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” (Romans 9:15)

“Hear my prayer, LORD; listen to my cry for mercy. When I am in distress, I call to You, because You answer me. (Psalm 86:6-7)

“But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions- it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:4-5)

“He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.” (Titus 3:5)

“But the LORD was gracious to them and had compassion and showed concern for them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (2 Kings 13:23)

When Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)

Mercy or compassion: which is more of an action word? Which one would be more like something you would feel?  

Consider positions of power vs an equal footing.  When are mercy vs. compassion more fitting?

It may seem like a no-brainer, but Today is always Today. 

Today is not Yesterday for which opportunities are over and never to be identically repeated.  Time was poured out and never will be reclaimed. Yesterday, it was full of its mistakes and excuses, troubles and worries, regrets, failures, words we never should have spoken or written, and yes, Yesterday had its successes and achievements, too.  But that was Yesterday.  Yesterday is over.  Unless you’re the Beatles in which case it is an enduring hit song, not without controversy. 

Tomorrow also is not Today.  It’s Tomorrow.  A day none of us are guaranteed.  Some of us may never see Tomorrow.  All we have is Today.  Tomorrow offers the hope of things being better.  It holds the promise of second chances.  It represents a turning… as within 24 hours, Today will turn to Yesterday …and Tomorrow’s fresh start emerges with the sunrise as it becomes a new Today.  But that’s not guaranteed if Jesus returns and Christ-followers enter God’s rest, or we cash in our earthly chips, and they fall where they may.

But then there’s Today.  The only moment we are guaranteed: it’s right now.

The author of Hebrews stresses that Today is critically important.  It’s all we’ve got.  To many of us, the Good News and our obedience to it is now … or maybe never.  Even Today, there is nothing earned.  Nothing gained to unlock the doors to God’s rest.  Nothing, if we don’t believe, share the faith, and obey it.

Hebrews 4:2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.'” And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world.

4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” 5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 7 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.

11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Questions for today:

What are you doing with Today?  Are you procrastinating, counting on a Later or Tomorrow? 
In what way is Today pointing to the sabbath rest God promised for people to observe and enjoy as God enjoys His? 
God’s Word is alive and active Today.  It’s powerful to change lives Today.  What is your response to God’s Word?