Going For The Sure Thing!
While we may inherit certain physical characteristics through DNA and others through association, thankfully God does not judge us according to the sins of our Fathers. Each of us have an opportunity to decide not only how we are going to live, but also where we will go when we die:
6 Those who first heard the good news of deliverance failed to enter into that realm of faith’s-rest because of their unbelieving hearts. Yet the fact remains that we still have the opportunity to enter into the faith-rest life and experience the fulfillment of the promise! 7 For God still has ordained a day for us to enter into called "Today." For it was long afterwards that God repeated it in David’s words,
"If only today you would listen to his voice
and do not harden your hearts!" Hebrews 4:5-7 (TPT)
The Israelites, God’s chosen people, called out to be an example to the world of the grace and the glory they would experience if they just put their trust in Him, chose not to enter into the Promise Land. It is not as if they were afraid of making the journey, they walked around the wilderness for forty years,experiencing wars and other dangers. Yet, when it came time to determine how they would go into the Promise Land they chose to believe they could not do it, for there were giants in the land. They chose to let fear rule and faith to die in their lives. After being miraculously cared for in every imaginable way (their clothes nor their shoes wore out), they chose to reject the Promise of God to enter into the "faith-rest life".
They did not have another chance. They all died in the wilderness. For there is a "today" wherein you must make a decision. As it states above, "if onlytoday you would listen to his voice and do not harden your hearts". Each of us have a "today", where we must decided how we may live. In this dispensation of grace, we may even have a second, third, or even a fourth chance. But taking a chance is just that. It’s fifty-fifty or maybe even seventy-thirty. Chances are never the promise! The promise is sure when we determine that on our "today" we will "ener into the faith-rest life and experience the fulfillment of the promise".
Why take a chance,when we can go for the sure thing!
Maria