“Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” – Hebrews 13:13-14

Don’t be afraid to be questioned, mocked, humiliated, or abused for following Jesus. Don’t worry about getting tossed out of the “right sort” of groups, jobs, people, and places because Jesus is your Lord. Don’t be afraid to pay the price Jesus paid. Everything we have here on Earth is temporary, but the joy of an eternity with Jesus in the new Jerusalem will last forever!

Jesus Himself was led out of the old Jerusalem to suffer and die. He has invited you to take up your cross and follow Him out of the city where all the “right and proper” people have their power and influence. Follow Jesus out of comfort and ease. Out of popularity and away from earthly power. Follow Him into His power and presence. Into His peace the surpasses all human understanding. Once you actually trade the world for Jesus, you’ll quickly realize it was the best deal of your life!

So, take up your cross, live your faith, and don’t worry about how embarrassing it may be, how foolish it may seem to your friends or family, or how difficult the road ahead may be. As you follow Jesus, know that He is comforting and carrying you, strengthening and sustaining you, loving and encouraging you. The rewards you pile up in heaven for faithful obedience will be eternally satisfying year after year, century after century in God’s presence. Whatever it may cost today, it is completely worth it! #FollowJesus

“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” – Hebrews 12:11

If you’re a blood-bought believer in Jesus Christ, adopted by God the Father, then you’ll never again experience God’s righteous anger. God will never condemn you or punish you. Jesus took all the condemnation and punishment you deserve on Himself on the cross. There is nothing left for you!

However, you may experience God’s discipline, which is certainly uncomfortable but considerably different than punishment. When a follower of Jesus sins without repenting, God often places hardships in his or her life to get their attention and bring them to repentance. When we become unserious in our efforts to grow spiritually, God may let us experience ongoing dissatisfaction with whatever’s getting our energy and attention. He may cause things to fail that we’re putting our time and energy into rather than our relationship with Him. Solid plans won’t work out. Things that should go well don’t. The things we value most leave us feeling cold and empty. That’s the Lord’s discipline.

What’s important to understand about God’s discipline is that it’s rooted in His love for you. He’s giving you frustration and dissatisfaction so you’ll snap out of your spiritual stupor, repent of any sins, and renew your eagerness to draw near to Him. Discipline is ultimately for your blessing. It’s uncomfortable in the moment but ends once you’re back on the path toward the deepest and most fulfilling blessings of your earthly life. Discipline, once it has been responded to, helps you grow and become more like Jesus. That’s the “peaceful fruit of righteousness” this verse mentions – your transformation to become like Jesus.

Many Christians get confused about God’s punishment (for sinful unbelievers) vs. God’s discipline (for His beloved children who wander off the right path). If Jesus is your Lord, God isn’t punishing you when things are going badly. But He may be using discipline to get your attention and guide you into even better blessings in Christ. #FollowJesus

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1

Biblical faith is about confidence in the future that you can’t yet see, hear, touch, taste, or smell. It’s the choice to believe that because your Savior died and rose from the dead, you will also rise from death to be with Him eternally. There are plenty of stories in the Bible to help build your confidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God, God Himself come in human flesh, the Christ, and your Savior. But faith is still required. You must simply believe some things which won’t entirely be proven until Jesus returns and your faith becomes your lived experience.

Not only is this OK, it’s absolutely necessary! Faith isn’t faith if it’s easily proven in every last detail. Hebrews 11 is full of examples of the faith of God’s people throughout history and how God has blessed and rewarded that faith. The saints of old trusted God’s promises and He delivered them, even through suffering. God’s grace, favor, and blessing come through faith. Faith isn’t foolish acceptance of fairy tales. It’s the thoughtful and confident assurance that God is good, faithful, trustworthy, and powerful enough to keep every promise He has made.

The life of faith is the path of ultimate joy and reward now and forever. Embrace your faith, even, and especially, when your senses and feelings point in a different direction. Be confident in what God has revealed through His Word (the Bible) and His Word Made Flesh (Jesus). Live your life in confident faith. #FollowJesus

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.” – Hebrews 10:19-20

In ancient times, a heavy curtain separated God’s presence in the most holy place of the Tabernacle from everyone and everything else. This was for our protection. Mankind in our sinfulness couldn’t survive the in the presence of our Most Holy God. The only human who could pass through that curtain was the High Priest, once a year, on the Day of Atonement. At all other times, we had to keep our distance from God for our own safety.

However, when Jesus died on the cross, everything changed! That curtain was torn from top to bottom as Jesus breathed His last breath. Its responsibility to separate mankind from our Creator was obsolete! We have been reconciled through Christ’s sacrifice. The curtain has been opened for everyone who embraces Jesus Christ as Lord. Through faith in Jesus, every believer is washed clean of their sins by the innocent, divine blood of Jesus. We are welcomed through the curtain and into God’s presence! That includes you!!!

Do you now live in that confidence the writer of Hebrews of speaks of in these verses? Do you gladly enter into the holy presence of God every day in prayer, praise, and petition? Are you delighted to grow closer to the Lord, knowing that there is no curtain to keep you separated from Him? Do you pursue your relationship with God zealously, studying His Word, praying, meditating on Scripture, praising and testifying to His goodness, and serving Him in the power of His Spirit? There’s no longer a need to keep your distance from God, so don’t! #FollowJesus

“This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.” – Hebrews 7:22

Celebrate this truth! By His sacrificial death and glorious resurrection, Jesus Christ guarantees the new and better covenant God has made with mankind. This covenant isn’t based on what we do. It isn’t a covenant of rules and laws that we’ll inevitably break and lose the benefit of. This is a covenant based on God’s grace which can never break. The benefits of the new covenant can never be lost. Jesus Himself sits at the Father’s right hand to guarantee it!

This is truly good news. If you’ve embraced Jesus as your Lord, then you are under God’s new covenant. Your sins have been forgiven not because you sacrificed animals, but because of the voluntary sacrifice of the eternal Son of God Himself. Jesus gave Himself to be your once-for-all-time sacrifice on the cross, ratifying the new covenant with His innocent, holy, divine blood.

Jesus is the guarantee of the grace in which you stand! That grace can NEVER be shaken. That grace NEVER ends. The unending, indestructible life of Jesus is the proof and guarantee that in Christ, your life is eternal as well. Praise the Lord and #FollowJesus!