The Confidence Of Maturity

Beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation.
–Hebrews 6:9

In Hebrews 6:9, the writer described the confidence of spiritual maturity: “Beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation.”

Some of you are going the wrong way in your relationship with God. Here is the good news–you do not have to keep going in that direction! As you do an honest assessment of your spiritual life right now, are you moving toward God or are you moving away from God?

If you have been moving away from God, the first thing you are to do is to repent. That word “repent” simply means a change of mind that leads to a change of direction. Imagine one night you are driving down a one-way street and see the headlights coming toward you. You realize you are going the wrong way. You can keep on going if you want to, or you can admit your mistake, turn around, and not suffer the consequences. That is what repent means. If you are not as close to God today as you used to be, tell God about it. Admit it and determine to turn your life around and start going in the right direction.

Second, the writer of Hebrews said you need to move toward maturity. Hebrews 6:1 says, “Let us press on to maturity.” Make your spiritual life a priority. You have to come to a point when you say, “I do not care what else I do today; I will spend time with God so that I grow in my faith.”

Can a Christian lose his salvation? No, but the fact that we are eternally secure should be a motivation for obedience, not a license for disobedience. In his pamphlet on eternal security, Chuck Swindoll tells the true story about the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. When that bridge was finished in 1937, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world. When they were constructing the first tower of that bridge, 23 workers fell to their deaths in the San Francisco Bay. So they halted construction and stretched a safety net underneath the tower construction. It was the world’s largest safety net at the time. When they put that net under the second tower, two amazing things happened. First, 10 men fell–but they did not fall to their deaths. They were saved because of the safety net. Even more amazingly, the work on the second tower went 25 percent more quickly than work on the first tower. Why? Well, that’s easy: The fear of falling had been removed. And that meant the men could work much more confidently and much more quickly. You know, God has placed His safety net under us. We are eternally secure in Christ because of what He has done for us. All fear of falling away into Hell has been removed. But the assurance that we have is not a license for disobedience; it ought to cause us to work that much more faithfully and confidently for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That is the message of Hebrews 6.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “Falling Away From God” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2018.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.