“We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” – Hebrews 6:12
When someone is a marathon runner, they run every day. Every thought they have and action they take is focused around running. They make sure they are eating the right foods, drinking water, that they aren’t doing anything that could injure them and that they keep their strength and stamina by at least running once a day. When they are training for a marathon, they don’t only run 10 miles in order to prepare for 24. Actually, many runners that I have talked to try to run around 30, so that 24 seems on the lighter side. If one of these runners over the years decides that this is just too much work, so they are going to take a couple of years off, it would ruin their career. Yes, when they decide to jump back into it, they would still know the correct form of running, what they should eat and drink, and what times work best for them. But their strength and stamina would have depleted tenfold. This, I think, is what the author of Hebrews is trying to warn us of. Don’t become lazy and stagnant in your walk with Christ, but jump in the water and try to walk. Yes, you might start to sink in the process, but that is when we reach our hand out to Jesus and He pulls us up.
As Christian I don’t think that we always become lazy on purpose. Sometimes I think it could just be a fear of jumping out of the boat, being scared that we might start to sink and no one would be there to pull us up. We fill our mind with doubt, instead of having confidence in our Creator and Savior. Consequently, we get comfortable in the boat, because we think that is where we are safe, but it is actually the opposite. The boat is where we risk becoming lazy or luke warm. But, this isn’t what Jesus wants for our lives, He wants us to live by faith, and with faith we would have the boldness to jump out of the boat and do the work He has called us to. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” His plans for us might stretch us, but in no way will He leave us for harm.
The author doesn’t just tell us what not to do though, he gives us instructions on how to keep ourselves from laziness. He tells us to “imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised,” meaning eternal life with Christ Jesus. He first tells us to imitate, which tells me that I am not alone in this race. There are people around me who are living their lives depended on Christ and they can be my examples. God doesn’t want us to be alone, with no way of knowing our right from our left, but He has given us examples of those who follow the Father with faith and patience. The Bible is full of examples, including Jesus, and there are also people within our own lives that mentor us. He then tells us to imitate their faith and patience. We need to have faith in Christ, in what He promises and what He will do within our lives. Many times, for myself, I find I don’t always doubt God’s abilities, but I doubt that He will work within my life. Yet, He says if I seek Him and pray to Him, not only will I find Him, but He will listen to my cry. I have to have faith in this promise and I have to have patience. If God answered our prayers quickly all the time, life wouldn’t take much faith or patience (there would also not be much room for growth in these two areas). Many times we can’t always see what God is doing within a situation, or the steps that He want us to take, but that is okay. We just need to have faith that He works everything out for the good of those who love Him, and then have patience in that faith and His perfect timing.
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