If you follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on Facebook, you may have already seen this... but in case you have not efficiently stalked me lately, I want to share this with you. Moreover, I want to stamp and date this so that I can remember it in the future.

From my current facebook status:

Kera Package believes that Hebrews 6 is the chapter of the new year: "Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity... And God permitting, we will do so" . Grabbing onto that vision: a deeper faith in year to come. =]

I have been praying through this chapter for about a week, and I truly believe that it is the world for the new year for me, for Chi Alpha, for those in my community of faith, and for the greater Church as a whole. This chapter of Hebrews is beautiful, encouraging and challenging.

At the end of chapter 5, the author says that we are slow to learn and still infants feeding on the bare necessities  and that "solid food is for the mature" (v14) . I don't know about you, but I want to be SOLID. In the first three lines of chapter 6, the author tells us to accept the six basic tenets of Christianity and to mature towards a deeper faith. v3 says "God willing we will do so". God wants us to mature in faith, and it is only by His will that we can do so. No one matures in faith without God, but God desires to take everyone deeper.

After a warning about backsliding and apostasy,  the author tells us about the good soil that soaks up the rain and receives the blessings of God (v7).  Those who drink deeply of the Spirit and of the nourishment God gives through His word, presence, and community of believers, will receive great blessing and will be fruitful. v9 continues on to say that "we are confident of better things in your case—things that accompany salvation". Christianity is more than being saved, it's about stepping into God's promise. The promise we have as His sons and daughters to co-labor in His Kingdom. The promise that death and the Enemy have been defeated, and that we can ask anything in His name and it will be done. The promise that we will do even greater things than He did to bring glory to His name. Stepping into that promise requires a proactive outlook and continued diligence. This passage warns us not to be lazy or timid, but to grab a hold of God's promise, to act upon it, and to share it with others.

The passage concludes with this:
17Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
Whatever He promised us will come to be. God is true to His word. The Biblical promises for all people and the personal promises that He made to you and I, they will happen. The promise that He is coming back soon  will be fulfilled. There is so much hope in the word of God.  v19 advises us to use this hope - that He is who He says He is and will do what He says He does- as an anchor for our soul. Through the storms of life, our souls are stable in His promise. He has already entered the inner sanctuary to the holy of holy place and spoke on our behalf.

Jesus has already went before us in this world. He suffered death so that we may live eternally, and He walked on this earth physically to show us what humanity was made to accomplish. He has given us authority and has been interceeding as a priest of the highest order and will continue interceding forever.

This year, we will mature in faith because God wants us to and because Jesus is leading us along to a place that is a little closer to the throne room.... He is leading us toward an active faith where we act on His promises, where we enforce the things He has already done here on earth, where we show the world that we truly believe this stuff by acting like we believe it.

I'm soo excited for a new year, and a new level of faith... and as I am getting pumped up, the Deluge song Open up the Sky is stuck in my head.

"Here we go. Let's go to the throne.
The place where we belong. Right into His arms
We won't be satisfied with anything ordinary.
We won't be satisfied at all"

How can we be satisfied with the basics of faith when there is always more to know of God, always greater understanding? I can't be satisfied, but I can move closer... and I think it's time to go a little deeper. =]

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