1) What causes your mind to wander? When is it that you have a hard time focusing?
2) What are you afraid of? What causes you to be fearful?
3) Who are you most able to identify with? What kind of person are you able to connect with easily?
Pay attention! These are the writer’s words at the beginning of Chapter 2. The call is to pay attention, “to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” What have we heard? We’ve heard about the great salvation that is ours through Jesus Christ (2:3). This salvation has changed our lives (2 Corinthians 5:17) and set us on a whole new course (Galatians 5:25) with a whole new purpose (Colossians 1:10). This is a big deal. Pay attention!
The ultimate fear in life has to be death. While there are many other phobias that people struggle with, one thing we all have in common is the fear of dying (thanatophobia). However, Jesus came to change this! His death put an end to death, so that in Christ we will live forever. Paul wrote in Romans 5:17, “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” With death taken care of we truly have nothing to fear.
It seems like we relate best to people most like us. That is, the more we are like someone the easier it is to connect with them. Apply this to our relationship with God and we find that through Jesus we are able to connect completely. This is because Jesus was, “made like his brothers in every way.” He knows us and identifies with us and since, “he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
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