Hebrews 13:7-9
Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings.
I want to focus on the description of Jesus: He is the same yesterday, today and forever. This is a great passage. We don’t have to worry about what He thinks about something or how He may respond. We can see how He responded to things on earth. He didn’t evolve in His thinking. It’s nice to know that He is consistent. What makes this passage more curious is the context that it’s in. The prior scripture speaks about allowing our leaders to motivate us and influence us. The following scripture passage speaks of avoiding weird doctrine. These passages are giving us a measure on how we are to live. We’ve got our pastors and teachers. These invest their lives in the gospel and into us. We need to respect that and follow their example. As long as they are following Christ, we are to be behind them. This isn’t referring to some picky area of disagreement. Those will always be there. Contentious people are fueled by them and their lives are full of toxicity. Choose your church and get involved. Avoid the odd, faddish tangents. Verse nine called them strange teachings. It went on to talk about some type of diet. Don’t think that these things will make us more spiritual. They usually lead us astray. Get into your church and follow them as they follow Christ. This may be difficult for some, as they don’t attend a church. There are a dozen reasons why not. They listen to the teachers on the radio and tv. However, they are missing the command of scripture, which says “don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves together” Hebrews 10:25. If we had bad experiences, then we need to look again. There will be no perfect church. Being a part of a good church will greatly bless your life. It will allow you to have leaders whose lives you can imitate. You’ll get a peer group with the same values that care for you and look out for you. Lord, thank You for the blessings of church.