HANG ON TIGHT!

Hebrews 10:23 (NKJV) Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Most Christians will "say" that God is faithful.  Yet, the pressures of the world, academia, and the media to forsake the clear teachings of the Bible in order to "accommodate" the ideas of this world is really a pressure on the idea of whether or not God really IS faithful.  Bible-believing Christians are not immune to this pressure, and all too often, they succumb.

The passage today challenges us to "hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering."  That is a huge challenge.  The "confession of our hope" is the hope that God will be faithful and keep His word to us regarding our salvation.  That part is easy.  But the gospel is continually being undermined in churches, pulpits, homes, and communities around the world under the pressures of ridicule, arrogant unbelieving false logic, nonspiritual religious leaders, and non-Christian religions. 

I remember a time when my salvation was deeply attacked by none other than a handful of people ("deacons" and lay-leaders) who tried to use the Bible to convince me that one can "lose" one's salvation.  As a young believer, I did not have the skills with the scripture to argue the case that Jesus saves eternally or not at all.  This is my hope.  If my salvation were entirely up to me, I would have no hope at all.  I did not waver, though I had to simply stand my ground and refuse to give in.  Eventually, they gave up their efforts.  Later, I learned well enough how to deal with this from the Bible.  You see, had I trusted their false teaching, I would have undermined the idea that God is faithful.  Indeed, our salvation is entirely dependent upon that point alone - the faithfulness of God, not OUR faithfulness. 

The attacks against the faithfulness of God include attacks on the authority of Scripture, the literal accuracy of the Scripture, the proper interpretation of the Scripture, and the inerrancy of Scripture.  But it is not just the Bible under attack.  Tests in the lives of Believers reveal attacks against the faithfulness of God happen daily.  Persecution is a great example.  But there is also the market-place of ideas that so subtly seek to persuade Believers to lay down their hope in Jesus and the faithfulness of God.  Daily events cause us to choose to trust the Lord or doubt Him.  These are tests that are designed to show us whether or not we actually do "hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering."

How about you?  Can you see areas of your life that you may be tempted to compromise the clear teachings of the Scriptures because something you have seen or learned in this world has caused you to doubt the Bible says what It means?  If God didn't mean what He said, does that undermine your salvation?  Of course.  Your trust in God to mean what He said about salvation will waver when you begin to distrust Him about other things. 


Beware, my soul, lest you be led astray.  "Hold fast the confession of your hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."