Hebrews 3
There is a cute scene in the movie Annie where she has been brought to
Daddy Warbucks’s mansion to spend Christmas with him. It was, as I recall, an act of charity after
which she was to be returned to the orphanage.
When she arrived she was asked, “What would you like to do first?” She says something like, “I think I’ll start
with the windows up there and work my way down.” She thought she has been brought to the
mansion to clean.
We are not dissimilar to Annie in that
we have been brought into God’s house purely by His grace. All the glory, honor, and praise go to Jesus
for opening the doors to that home by atoning for our sins. We belong to God’s house, “if indeed we hold
fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.” In other words, we are part of God’s family
through faith in Christ.
However, having been brought into God’s
house it seems like we feel we need to do something. “I think I’ll start with the windows up there
and work my way down.” It is as though
we went to Moses, perhaps God’s greatest servant, and said, “Teach me how to be
a member of the family.” He would point
us to the Law and say, “Do these things:
Don’t worship other gods, honor God’s name and word, respect your
parents, don’t kill, be sexually pure, don’t steal, don’t lie, and don’t desire
your neighbors life or possessions.”
None of these, however, make us family members.
Instead of turning to Moses to teach us
to be God’s family, Hebrews says to turn to Christ, who was not a servant, but
a son. He says to us, “You are part of
the family. I have been washed you. You are holy.”
We are warned, “Take care, brothers,
lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall
away from the living God.” We should not
rebel against God’s calling to live in His grace by faith. This salvation will transform our outward
actions so that we seek to keep the Law, but we do so because we are part of God’s
house; not because we are trying to be worthy to be in God’s house.
Jesus, help me live by grace and be changed
by You. Let the good that I do flow from
being Your child so others experience your love through me and believe, and
believing become part of your family.
Amen.
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