As I looked at this picture, one word came to mind: Today. God gives us “today” and that is enough. Yesterday is history and nothing but a memory; tomorrow may or may not come for us, for who knows if we will see another daybreak. But, we do have “today”and we should make the most of it. Today we may not set the world on fire, we may not even have a good day; things happen. But, we do have the opportunity to do the best we can, where we are and with what God has given us. I wondered what the Bible said about “Today” so I looked at many of the passages that used the word and this one stood out as being different…
1 Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus; 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also was Moses in all his house. 3 For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, because he who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone; but he who built all things is God. 5 Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken, 6 but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house; whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end. 7 Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says,“Today if you will hear his voice, 8 don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers tested me by proving me,
and saw my works for forty years.
10 Therefore I was displeased with that generation,
and said, ‘They always err in their heart,
but they didn’t know my ways;’
11 as I swore in my wrath,
‘They will not enter into my rest.’”
12 Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; 13 but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm to the end: 15 while it is said,
“Today if you will hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.”
like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers tested me by proving me,
and saw my works for forty years.
10 Therefore I was displeased with that generation,
and said, ‘They always err in their heart,
but they didn’t know my ways;’
11 as I swore in my wrath,
‘They will not enter into my rest.’”
12 Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; 13 but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm to the end: 15 while it is said,
“Today if you will hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.”
Notice that the emboldened portions above refer to the rebellion; that is, when Israel rebelled against God at Meribah (See also Exodus 17:7 and Numbers 20:13, 24). When the Bible uses a word or a passage reference over and over, it does so for emphasis and therefore it should be always remembered. There is a lesson in this passage of Scripture: Today, no matter how bad it may be, will never be a disaster if we do not harden our hearts toward the Almighty. Therefore, be faithful like Jesus (vss. 1, 2) and today will be a “today to remember”.
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