Faith Bigger than Our Fears

 

Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:1-6 ESV).

 

As we come to a close in our devotionals through Hebrews, I hope you have taken note of the valleys of doctrinal foundation leading to peaks of radical and practical exhortation. Our reading today is one of those moments. The practical matter of keeping our life free from the “love of money” is an essential doctrine for our walk with Christ. Practically speaking the writer tells us that the way to be free from the love of money is to know and believe and be satisfied by the promises of God summed up in "I will never desert you nor will I ever forsake you." If God will never leave me or forsake me, I don't need to crave money as the source of my security and happiness; God will be there for me and meet every need. He doesn't promise wealth. He doesn't even promise freedom from financial stress. He promises to be there. "I will never desert you or forsake you."

 

The writer gives the practical conclusion from this promise: "So that [this is what results from the promise] we confidently say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?” (v. 6). In other words, if God is really there for me, man is not the decisive shaper of my future, God is. That's why he says, "What can man do to me?" To which you might be tempted to say, "Good grief, man can do a lot to me. He can sue me, evict me, steal from me, slander me, even kill me."

 

However, remember where the writer has just taken us. We have just walked through two chapters of illustrations of this sort of ill-treatment, where saints are "destitute, afflicted, ill-treated"; where Christians suffer painful discipline at the hands of hostile men; and, then he says, "Remember the prisoners… and those who are ill-treated." So this writer is very aware that man can do plenty to us that hurts. Watch the logic of this truth. First, man can do nothing to separate us from the love of God (cf. Romans 8:35-37). Further, man can do nothing that God does not design for our holiness and peace (cf. Hebrews 12:9-10). And, last, man cannot do anything to us that, by faith, does not lead to everlasting joy with God (cf. Hebrews 10:34).

 

So, the way that Hebrews describe the bondage to money being broken is by the power of truth. We are freed from the love of money by coming to see and believe that the promises of money cannot compare with the promises of God. And we come to see this not only because what God promises is superior but also because of the teaching behind the promises that give them credibility and power. This is the heart of the substitutionary death of Christ for us. It gives us confidence that God can treat us with such grace without being naïve and unjust (cf. Hebrews 2:9; 9:26; 10:14). Now… that IS good news! Let your faith be bigger than your fear!