A Heavenly Calling (3)

And Moses indeed wasfaithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Hebrews 3.5, 6

Found to be faithful
Those who have truly begun to share in the heavenly calling, and thereby increasing in full faith, will demonstrate their engagement with that really real world consistently, throughout every day of their lives.

That is, they will be faithful – as Jesus was faithful to God, Who sent Him to us for our redemption, and now receives His ongoing intercession on our behalf. Those who share in the heavenly calling will be found to be faithful, like Jesus, and they will persist in faithfulness throughout all their days.

But to what – or whom? – are they to be faithful? Moses and Jesus were faithful to God, to do whatever He appointed for them. Like them we also must be faithful to God, or it will be difficult to tell that we have begun to share in the heavenly calling. We are being faithful to God, our writer informs us, when we “hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope.”

OK, but what does that mean?

Holding fast our confidence
What does it mean to “hold fast the confidence” we have in Christ and His salvation?

Well, in what are we confident? Of what are we assured (Heb. 11.1)? If we have believed in Jesus, we should understand that we have already begun to share in the heavenly calling. Are you confident of that? Do you get up every day completely assured that your sins are forgiven and your eternal destination is secure? And do you, on the basis of that confidence, make plans to live, work, relate to others, and enjoy life within the parameters of your heavenly calling, knowing that the God Who gave you that calling will be with you and will never fail nor forsake you (Heb. 13.5)? Do you go forth confident of God’s presence with you, of His pleasure in your chosen lifestyle, of His Spirit’s working in you to make you willing and able to do what pleases God (Phil. 2.13), and of Jesus’ ongoing intercession for you with the Father?

And, as we have previously explained it, does this inward assurance in which you are confident produce the outward evidence of your hope in every area of your life?

If we were confident of this – really confident – and if we held fast to that confidence every day of our lives, it would not be long before it began to be clear to everyone around us that our lives are following a trajectory which differs markedly from the narcissistic, relativistic, materialistic, and secular lifestyle of what they observe in most people.

Boasting in our hope
But being faithful also involves “our rejoicing in the hope.” A more literal translation of the phrase is “boasting in the hope.” If we are filled with the hope of glory – now and for eternity – then that should be a matter of some importance to us. It should be just the kind of thing we would be eager to talk about, to urge others to consider, to share with others who share in this way of life, some of the ways we are discovering the really real nature of our heavenly calling.

Those who share in this calling will not be able to keep from boasting about it, since it is so really real to them (cf. Acts 4.20), and this can lead to others seeking from them an explanation for the hope they observe in them (1 Pet. 3.15).

We are growing in our full faith relationship with God, and thus following our faithful Jesus, when we hold fast our confidence, firm to the end, and rejoice and boast in our hope at every opportunity.

Now obviously this suggests an approach to life that differs in many ways from the people we meet each day. This should not surprise us; after all, it is a heavenly calling we are pursuing, and not just one career among many. We share in this calling by believing in Jesus. We are faithful as we share in this calling by going forth each day in the confidence of our salvation, living in that confidence and boasting to one and all about the calling from, for, and to heaven that we have received and embraced from God Himself.

We begin to share in that calling by trusting in Jesus. But we continue to share in it, and to increase in full faith, only to the extent that we, like Jesus, are faithful to Him Who called us.

For reflection or discussion
1.  In what ways are Moses and Jesus good examples of what it means to be faithful to God?

2.  How would you counsel a fellow believer to work at building up his confidence in the Lord?

3.  What areas of your life would you like to see impacted more consistently by your confidence in the Lord? In what ways?

Next steps – Conversation: Talk with a few Christian friends. Are they “confident” in their calling? Are they “boasting” about their heavenly calling with others? Are you? Consider some ways you might encourage one another in these two aspects of our heavenly calling (Heb. 10.24). Look for someone to “boast” to this week.

T. M. Moore

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This week’s ReVision study is Part 9 of a 10-part series, “Full Faith.” You can download “A Heavenly Calling” as a free PDF, prepared for personal or group study. Simply click here.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.