Scripture: Hebrews 5.12
In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!

Reflection: No Spiritual Fast Food
By Jon Polk

Fast food. We love our fast food. The results of a 2013 Gallup Poll indicated that almost 50% of Americans eat fast food at least once a week. This is in spite of the fact that the majority of those who eat it at least weekly also agreed that fast food is not good for you. But fast food has become an integral part of our culture because of its convenience, portability, and low cost.

What if we managed our spiritual diet in the same way we treat our physical diet? What if we approached our spiritual health in the same way we ignore our physical health?

The reality is that we live in a fast-paced world. We eat fast food not because it is healthy, but because it is efficient. Often the same is true for our spiritual lives. We read our one-minute devotion, say a quick prayer as we head out the door, and maybe listen to a song or two on the local Christian radio station on the way to work. Quick, easy, convenient.

Unfortunately, spiritual maturity does not come quickly, it is rarely easy, and is definitely not convenient.

The recipients of the epistle of Hebrews wrestled with spiritual immaturity. They weren’t willing to grow in their faith and knowledge of God’s truths. They didn’t even try to understand.

The word of God is alive and active and ought to continually challenge us and reshape our thinking and living. We should not be lazy with our faith and simply remain as spiritual infants, but rather work diligently to love God and serve his people. Like the first hearers of this letter, some of us who ought to have matured into teachers and leaders of the faith are still repeating Christianity 101.

A CEO of a large company was interviewing a field of internal candidates for a promotion. When the announcement was made that a five-year employee received the promotion, another employee angrily challenged the executive, “I’ve had twenty years with this company and I was passed over for the promotion by a colleague with only five years of experience.” The CEO replied, “That is not exactly true. You have only had one year’s experience twenty times.”

There are no shortcuts to spiritual maturity. It is a lifelong process of learning and growing and training ourselves in the ways of God’s love, grace and truth.

The Refrain
I call with my whole heart; answer me, O Lord, that I may keep your statutes. — Psalm 119.145

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 23 (Listen – 7:43)
Hebrews 5 (Listen – 1:57)

This Weekend’s Readings
2 Kings 24 (Listen – 3:21) Hebrews 6 (Listen – 2:58)
2 Kings 25 (Listen – 5:24) Hebrews 7 (Listen – 4:01)

Scripture: 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.

Reflection: A High Priest Like No Other
By Jon Polk

According to the sacrificial system in Israel, the high priest, the chief religious official of Judaism, was the only one who could offer sacrifices for the sins of the people and for other priests and even for himself.

On the Day of Atonement (the annual Jewish festival of Yom Kippur), the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and offer sacrifices for the penance of the people of Israel. Only the high priest could enter this sacred inner sanctuary of the temple and he could do so only once a year, on this holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

However, there is one who is called our great high priest, whose power and authority supersedes that of the high priests of old.

Jesus, our great high priest, walked among us as a human being, therefore, he is able to identify and sympathize with us. He drew near to us in order to understand us. As a human being living alongside his creation, Jesus was tempted like us, faced trials like us, and endured suffering like us. Jesus participated fully in the human experience with one important exception, Jesus did not sin.

Jesus, the Son of God, while similar to us in his humanity, is also significantly different from us in his divinity. Although he faced temptations common to all people, he did not give in to sin. This critical distinction elevates Jesus above any earthly high priest.

As our great high priest who is without sin, Jesus mediates payment for our sins through the sacrifice of his own life. Through his death, resurrection and ascension back into heaven, we can receive God’s mercy and grace.

As a fellow human, Jesus is able to identify with us. As the divine Son of God, Jesus is able to save us.

Israel’s high priest was allowed access to the presence of God in the Holy of Holies only once a year. Our great high priest Jesus has provided each of us with access to God’s throne of grace in any time of need. May we live our lives in faithfulness and gratitude for the great high priest who redeems.

The Refrain
Cast your burden upon the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous stumble. — Psalm 55.2

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 22 (Listen – 3:45)
Hebrews 4 (Listen – 2:43)

Scripture: Hebrews 3.12
See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.

Reflection: A Cautionary Tale of Unbelief
By Jon Polk

From the ancient history of the Israelite people comes a familiar story, a warning from the Holy Spirit. We recall those whose rebellion against God resulted in forty years of punishment in the wilderness, those whose hearts wandered away from faith, despite what God had done for them.

And it is here we discover that the heart is, in fact, the heart of the matter. In Hebrew thought, the heart was the core of a person’s being. The heart was the locus of emotional, intellectual, and moral activity and the center of physical activity. Thus, the heart controls motivations and produces actions. A clean heart produces faithful living. A corrupt heart leads to the opposite.

The Israelites who had followed Moses out of Egyptian captivity were given the opportunity to return home, back to the Promised Land that God had provided for their ancestors. But the Israelites’ unbelief, their lack of faith, determined their action. They walked away from God’s plan and his desires for them.

The English words belief and faith are both translated from the same Greek root word. We tend to think of belief as a set of propositions to which we give intellectual assent, but it is much more than that. To believe is to have faith. To have faith is to trust. To trust results in action.

An unbelieving heart does not trust in God’s ability to provide and lead and consequently results in decision-making and action that turn away from the good nature and grace of God. And such was the demise of an entire generation of Israelites, who walked away from the Promised Land because of their unbelief and perished after forty years of wandering in the desert. Moses brought God’s salvation to the ancient Israelites, but their hearts of unbelief charted a course of disobedient action.

Let the warning of the Holy Spirit be heard by those who are followers of Christ, do not harden your hearts towards God. May our souls sing with conviction these words from the great hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing:

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

The Request for Presence
Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the Lord; shout for joy, all who are true of heart. — Psalm 32.12

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 21 (Listen – 4:06)
Hebrews 3 (Listen – 2:25)

Scripture: Hebrews 2.14-15
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

This week and next, Jon Polk is taking us on a deep dive through the book of Hebrews. Check out the first one if you missed it. I’m looking forward to this journey. — John

Reflection: Fully Human, Fully Saved
By Jon Polk

For most believers of the Christian faith, accepting the divinity of Jesus is a given. This one who is called the Christ, the Son of God, is the fullest representation of the character and being of God. Jesus is fully divine.

But what are we to make of Jesus’ humanity? This is often where we struggle. How can Jesus be both fully divine and fully human?

When we read the gospels, we find that at times…

Jesus became hungry.

Jesus was thirsty.

Jesus became tired.

Jesus was sleepy.

The scriptures tell us that Jesus was born, he grew physically, he died, and he had a human body after the resurrection.

Was this all absolutely necessary?

Given the number of eye-witnesses to Jesus’ earthly life, it may seem odd that one of the earliest heresies to plague the early Christian church was Docetism, the belief that Jesus’ physical body was merely an illusion, that he was actually pure spirit and only appeared to have a human body. John addresses this issue in his letters, stating first that “those who acknowledge that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” are from God and second, that “those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh are deceivers.”

In the case of Jesus, neither fully divine nor fully human was sufficient on its own. This is one of the great mysteries of the incarnation. Why did God, through his Son, come to earth in human flesh?

He did so for our very salvation.

It was not the angels in the heavenly realms that Jesus set out to rescue, but flesh and blood human beings who were held in slavery by the great deceiver. Jesus became fully human so that he could serve as our high priest to not only administer the atoning sacrifice for our sins, but also to become that sacrifice himself.

For a God who only appeared to be human, could only appear to have saved us. But our God, who became fully human, did so in order that he might fully save us. And therefore, we should not ignore so great a salvation, because we recognize that we are fully indebted to him.

The Request for Presence
Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the Lord; shout for joy, all who are true of heart. — Psalm 32.12

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 20 (Listen – 3:39)
Hebrews 2 (Listen – 2:47)

Scripture: Hebrews 1.1-2a
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son….

I am excited for the next two weeks as Jon Polk takes us on a deep dive through the book of Hebrews starting with this expansion of its beautiful opening passage. Hebrews is rich ground and I’m looking forward to what Jon has for us. — John

Reflection: Solus Christus
By Jon Polk

Abraham, by faith, left his home and set off with his family on a journey to an unknown promised land, but he was not called the Son of God.

The deliverer, Moses, by the power of God, led the children of Israel out of captivity in Egypt and became their spiritual leader. He was used by God to reveal the law and the commandments, yet he was not called the Son of God.

The great king, David, indeed, the greatest of all the kings of Israel, was known as a man after God’s own heart, but he was not called the Son of God.

Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, Joel, Hosea and all the other prophets were the very mouthpiece of God, proclaiming truth to the people of Israel, yet not one of them was called the Son of God.

There is only one through whom God created the universe.

There is only one who is the radiance and majesty of God’s glory.

Only one who upholds all things by his mighty, powerful word.

Only one who, through his sacrifice, provided cleansing for sin.

And only one who sits at the right hand of God in heaven.

This is the one who is called the Son of God. The one through whom God has spoken to us in these final days. He is God’s Final Word.

God spoke through the Son in the same way God spoke through the prophets. The message was clear, significant and punctuated by illustrations of power. However, with Jesus, the difference was that his message was ultimate, final and complete.

Jesus, the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah, the Liberating King, is the exact representation of God’s being. In Jesus, we see the fullness of God’s character. There has never been and will never be a clearer portrait of God than the person of Jesus himself.

If you want to know the nature of God, if you want to witness the work of God, if you want to understand the love and compassion of God, look no further than Jesus the Christ.

For nothing can ever replace Jesus, nothing can ever exceed Jesus, and nothing is ever needed in addition to Jesus.

Jesus alone is the Son of God.

The Request for Presence
You are the star of the morn

You are the day newly born

You are the light of our night

You are the Savior by your might

— by David Adam

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
2 Kings 19 (Listen – 6:11)
Hebrews 1 (Listen – 2:15)