In
sharing his final exhortations with the readers of Hebrews, the
writer included “remembering those in bonds”
and those who “suffer adversity”,
and he told them, “marriage is honorable in all...but
whoremongers and adulterers God will judge”.
In chapter thirteen and verse five of Hebrews the writer
shared how his readers should live
“without covetousness” and
to “be content with such things as you have”
where we read:
for he
has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.
The verse begins, “Let
your conversation be
without covetousness; and be
content with such things as you have:”.
The writer
began with the words, “Let your
conversation”
which means “allow your manner of living, character, deportment and
fashion” “be without covetousness”
or “not loving money or avarice”; “and
be content”
or “possessing unfailing strength, having enough, being sufficed
and satisfied” “with such things as
you have”
or “with what the writer's readers have at hand, in store and at
their command”. The readers of Hebrews were to live without “loving
money”,
and they were to be “satisfied” with what they already
“possessed”.
The verse continues,
“for
he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.”.
The writer
added the words, “for he has said”
or “God
has uttered, proclaimed and declared”, “I
will never”
which means “God shall not at any time” “leave
you” or
“loosen, omit, give up or forbear”, “nor
forsake you” which
means “neither abandon, desert, leave in straits, helpless,
forsaken, behind or surviving”. God gave
this “promise to Jacob ( Gen
28:15 ), to Israel ( Deu
31:6, 8 ), to Joshua ( Jos
1:5 ) and Solomon
( 1Ch
28:20 ).
When we consider these
words in Hebrews, we take comfort in the idea that God Almighty has a
“manner for us to live”, and that way is first, without “loving
money” “for
the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10),
and secondly, by “being content” with what the Lord has
given to us. Living without “covetousness” and
“contented” comes only by recognizing the second part of this
verse, because God “will never leave” us, “nor
forsake” us. We have all we need when we have God, and Jesus
Christ, His Son, came to give us a relationship with God. Let us hear
the charge from the Hebrew writer to put off “covetousness”
and be “content” for God Almighty has provided His
presence to us forevermore.
Next
time the writer gives the reason why his readers were to be “without
covetousness”
and “be
content”,
“So
that we may boldly say, The Lord is
my helper” and
not “fear
what man shall do”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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