"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Thursday, 15 October 2009 | |||
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Solid Food | |||
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Earlier this week I submitted to medical advice for the
over-fifty crowd and had a colonoscopy. Those of you familiar with
current preparation for this exam know that it begins with a clear liquid
diet (I won't deal with where it goes from there). My experience with
such a diet is that it's an unusual measure for problematic
circumstances. In my recent case, it was colonoscopy prep, but a liquid
diet is sometimes part of the prescription for more serious medical
problems or issues. In other words, the neglect of solid food is a signal that something is unusual or amiss. The writer of Hebrews 5:11 - 6:12 uses incapacity for solid food as an image for spiritual immaturity or laziness. Though it might appear that he regards his audience as actually, presently immature, it is more likely that the image is a caution against a condition he desires his readers to avoid. Verse 6:9 makes this clear. He knows those who listen to him are capable of better things, more maturity. He is simply trying to spur them on. The text contains some difficult words about the irredeemability of the apostate, but overall I believe it can be seen as a strong challenge to move forward in Christ, to grow deeper and to produce substantial good fruit in one's Christian life. There might also be a challenge here to the sort of preaching I grew up on, which constantly rehearsed a basic call to salvation, but which added little substance upon which to base a growing spiritual life. I'll be trying to communicate to our congregation the kind of encouragement I hear in 6:9-12. God sees your progress thus far in works of love and the call is simply to not give up and to continue in hope and faithfulness and growth. [A note on the lectionary, which calls for Hebrews 5:1-10 this coming Sunday: A substantial portion (5:5-10) of that text was assigned for a Sunday in Lent (March 29) in this same cycle and I preached on it then, just a few months ago. So I've elected to skip forward to this text which is not assigned anywhere in any cycle of the lectionary.] | |||
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I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I invite you also to visit my web page.
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