Staying is not putting up with it. It is helping others along.
Two weeks ago this class said something that may have been hard to hear: in most cases, stay where you are, so that you can help others draw closer to God.
Today’s reading shows what that looks like. Staying is not gritting your teeth through another Sunday. It is drawing near to God yourself and then turning around to stir up the people next to you. That is how congregations get back on track: someone stays, and starts stirring. Notice what the writer says about meeting together, and what he warns can grow in a community and poison many people.
The same exception still stands. If something is happening in your church that is not right, such as abuse, manipulation or false teaching, staying put and saying nothing is not what God is asking of you. Talk about it with someone you trust.
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Check in
Last time you wrote that you would:
This is where you will look back at yesterday. For today, just notice how you are coming into this.
An honest prayer
Pray this as it is, or in your own words.
Father, give me grace to stay and love the people around me. Keep bitterness from taking root in me, and let me spur others on toward You.
Read
Hebrews 10:19-25 (OTB)
19Therefore, dear friends, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, 21and we have a great high priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how to spur one another on towards love and good deeds, 25not neglecting to meet together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
14Pursue peace with all people, and seek the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.