Chapter 12

Well, I am TRYING to get a commentary out every day! Computer problems caused the postponement of yesterday’s effort however. But, let’s press on!

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Chapter 12 continues on the theme from chapter 11. It takes as a given the idea of the great “Cloud of witnesses” (I love that phrase from the more formal translations!), and asks what we should do as a result.

And the answer?

Well, you could find it here. GET ON WITH IT!

Throughout my life I have often thought about how hard this Christian life can be.

You know what’s strange?

It’s strange that chapter 11 of Hebrews wasn’t a new chapter to me – it was in fact a nice, familiar chapter, parts of which I could rattle off from heart.

And yet somehow I had missed its significance.

It’s this – EVEN WHEN IT’S HARD FOR ME TO BE A CHRISTIAN, IT’S STILL EASIER THAN LIVING FOR GOD WAS FOR THESE PEOPLE!

What’s the worst that we comfortable middle class Christians are likely to face, really?

The worst I have ever had was being misunderstood for following Christ. Now, I grant you that it wasn’t fun. No question there.

But then I read about what chapter 11 tells us, and compare my sufferings with those seen there.

To use gamer parlance, I realize that those heroes found in chapter 11 would call me a “n00b” . . .

All I have faced is the occasional bit of discrimination, the odd snigger or snide remark here and there.

Yeah, poor little me.

And that’s all I’m probably EVER going to face. The odds of me ever having to face death for my faith are staggering[1].

Sorry if I seem to be heading back to chapter 11; it’s germaine, believe me.

The point is this – when you feel like it’s hard to be a Christian (or even hard to be in ministry!), it can sometimes be good to take a reality check. Read back in chapter 11 if it helps you to remember. But things have been a lot tougher for many people.

I was once told that it doesn’t help a depressed person if they get told “Look how much worse it gets for X, Y or Z”. And that’s true. But there’s also a place for the example of great people. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t feel bad when things go wrong in our faith lives. But we SHOULD look at these examples and realize that if they could keep going, maybe we can too. And if we are capable of thinking rationally, it’s also worth keeping in the back of the mind that the God who was able to help people face trial for their lives without flagging is the same God who is standing in your corner right now.

I’m actually going to break with tradition here and tackle the last part of chapter 12 tomorrow. There’s a lot of good material in this chapter, and I don’t want to miss out on it at all!

So tomorrow night we’ll take a look at the “Unshakeable Kingdom”.

[1] That’s not to say that it’s impossible – even in a totally free country, you get weird moments like what happened in the Columbine Massacre. But even counting stuff like that, you and I are almost certainly NOT going to face death for what we believe.