But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.
Hebrews 10:39
To win any kind of victory, you have to move forward. Yes, you might have to go sideways for a while. There might even be a retreat here and there. But eventually, you will have to put one foot in front of the other. Step by step, moving forward.
Being born in Baltimore, the war that I most identify with has to be the Civil War. I don’t mean that I liked the brutality or battles. But all around us were reminders of that awful time in American history.
One of the reasons I most identify with the Civil War has to be how it went back and forth. For example, the first major battle that took place in Manassas started out as a great Northern victory. But then the tide turned, and Union troops ran back into Washington DC.
Another example is the bloodiest day in American history. About 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of savage combat at the battle of Antietam. It should have been a great Union victory. On three different occasions Union soldiers had beaten the Southern troops badly. But General George McClellan refused to keep going forward to victory on that day. He also didn’t do a thing the next day, allowing the Southern army to get away.
If you’re like me, my life isn’t one victory after another. After another. It’s not one mountain top experience followed by another. Life isn’t one successful day that leads to another. And another. And another.
There are two questions that the writer of this letter is asking his Hebrew friends to think about. It’s the same two questions that we have to ask ourselves. We can’t just give a quick answer. Like the Hebrews, we must think long and hard about our lives.
First Question. Is our life filled with both victories and defeats? Are there times when we win and lose? Times of success and failure? Times of celebration and sorrow? I’m going to go way out on a limb here and say that we’ve had both sides of life. The good and the bad. Now, the all-important next question.
Second Question. What did you do after losing? The follow-up to winning is pretty easy. We celebrate. We rejoice. But what we do after losing will tell us a lot about who we are. Our next steps after a big fat failure will open up a window into our soul for all to see.
For the Hebrews, this is exactly where they are. After receiving Jesus’ payment for all their sins on the cross, they rejoiced. No more sacrifices. No more going to the Temple over and over again. No more wondering if they were forgiven.
But this was followed by hard times. They were going through persecution. Some had lost their possessions. Some lost their property. Some lost their freedom. Some lost their lives. We need to know that the pain and sorrow they felt was real. It was intense. It changed their excitement about faith in Jesus and made them think about going back.
So, the writer is asking them “What now?” Are they going to just craw back to where they were? Are they going to abandon their faith and savior? Are they going to pull their head in like a frightened turtle and just hope things get better?
The right answer is to move forward. Yes, in spite of everything they’ve lost, God has given them his power to move forward. Their live might be lighter with the loss of stuff, but God wants them and us to move forward.
CS Lewis wrote seven books that make up the Narnia series. There certainly were a lot of victories and defeats. Moving forward and then sliding back. Throughout all those pages, he had been writing about the same Narnia. His characters only knew this one Narnia.
But at the end, something new was in front of them. Something different. Someplace different. They had come to the new Narnia. A remade Narnia. The Unicorn character then says what everyone was thinking and feeling.
I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now. The reason why we loved the old Narnia is that is sometimes looked a little like this. Bree-heehee! Come further up, come further in![1]
So, how are we doing? What’s our decision and choice when life hands us pain and suffering? Are we going to be cowards or are we going to get back in the race? Are we going to keep on keeping on? Going forward? Forward to the place that Jesus is making for us[2].
The Word of God is very clear: once a person is saved, they can never be lost. Period. Yes, there can be trials and trouble. Yes, they might turn away for a while, but they will always return to the faith. Pretenders will run and retreat, never to return. This is the proof that they were never believers in the first place. So, let’s encourage one another to keep going forward. Why? Because Jesus never denied us. So, let’s never deny him.
Noodling Questions
What’s the cost of moving forward? Explain.
How do hard times slow down or stop our moving forward?
List three things that we receive because Jesus never denies us.
[1] CS Lewis, The Last Battle
[2] John 14:3
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