Our church ladies are headed to a retreat this coming weekend. Our focus will be the book of Hebrews and ‘Pressing on to Maturity’. I’ve been reading through Hebrews and thanking God that He has chosen ‘this’ teaching for ‘this’ particular time in my life. 

Consider Jesus…… I must ask myself this morning.. do I consider Jesus throughout my day…. when trials continue to come… when dreams are shattered….. when life seems overwhelming… or even when my days are filled with joy and gladness? Is the gaze of my soul continually on Him and am I seeking to learn from Him? I must confess… not as I should! I am oftentimes sidetracked and distracted!  But, oh… how very much I desire to!  He is worth my continual gaze.. my undivided attention.. so worth it!

Pastor Mike spoke on Martha and Mary last week.  Homemakers, mothers and wives would be greatly helped by this sermon on priorities. How much I miss when I don’t sit at Jesus feet and learn from Him. (The sermon can be found at      http://www.stevinsonchapel.com   …go to sermons..  then The Two Servants)

Hebrews 3:1…consider Jesus (consider means a continuous observation)

“I ran the 100- and 220-yard dashes in college. We learned very soon that you cannot run while watching your feet. You look straight ahead. When we ran sprints we set our eyes on the tape, and we kept our eyes on it until the finish. Looking at the tape helped motivate the desire to win and it kept us going in the right direction. It also kept our attention off ourselves and those running next to us. When we are running in the Christian race, we must get our eyes off our feet, get them off ourselves, and off those around us. We look to Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of our faith. We look at Him and then we are able to run. Looking at Him we know why we are running and where we are running, and have the power and the joy to keep on running.”

(from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Copyright © Moody Press and John MacArthur, Jr., 1983-2007.)

Hell is undoubtedly full of people who were never actively opposed to
Jesus Christ, but who simply neglected the gospel. Such people are in
view in these four verses. They know the truth and even believe the
truth, in the sense that they acknowledge its truthfulness, its
rightness. They are well aware of the good news of salvation provided
in Jesus Christ, but are not willing to commit their lives to Him. So
they drift past the call of God into eternal damnation. This tragedy
makes these verses extremely important and urgent.
(from The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Copyright © Moody Press and John MacArthur, Jr., 1983-2007.)

For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. (Hebrews 2:1-4)