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Hebrews 6 is an idea that the author communicates that there are some who had experienced something of God and then actively chosen not to be included in His family. One could, as I am sure has been done in the past, use this chapter to argue against the Calvanist teaching of 'once saved, always saved' but I do not believe this to be the purpose of this passage; the author is clearly addressing some who have not entirely fallen away. Rather, they seem to have perhaps fallen victim to backsliding to a point where they have become 'nominal Christians', taking the title without living the life, as it were. Reading a passage like this is always challenging, as we can so often relate to those who do not serve God with their everything. For this reason, we will begin at the beginning and see what God has to say to us through His Word.

Hebrews 6:1-3 speak of spiritual maturity: 'So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.'

The message being communicated in these first verses is quite simple and is a warning to all Christians: stop acting like kids! This is still the case with Christians today and I know that I am guilty of falling into sin and questioning primary truths I should have grasped as soon as I came to faith. The moment we recognise the truth of the gospel we know that God has said: 'DO NOT SIN' yet we still disobey. The author here is telling us to 'grow up' spiritually. My personal feeling here is that this is of particular importance to men; in the church we have cultivated a community of men who are told in the Bible to be strong, mature leaders created in the image and likeness of God, yet in our churches we tell them to just be nice, to spend time thinking about things like love and peace, and to get in touch with their emotions so that they can cry during times of worship. Men in the Bible are warriors and are armed with weapons like 'the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God' (Ephesians 6:17). So men and women, let's not be those who need to keep going back to basics, learning not to sin and learning to obey God through baptism and so on but let's be those who spend time maturing in our relationships with God.

Hebrews 6:4-8 is all about those who were once with the Lord but have since turned their backs on Him. This climaxes in verses 7-8 with this picture: 'When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.' In other words, one who is in a strong relationship with God is like a field that is willing to receive the goodness of rain with plenty of seeds with strong roots - these fields are sought after by farmers. On the other hand, if someone turns away from God the 'field' becomes overrun by weeds it is worthless, and the farmer will burn it.

There are three things to be learnt from this picture, the first is a warning from the burnt field: do not allow weeds in your field! When God looks at our lives we should be those who He can see are pure of all evil things. If sin is left in our lives then its roots can take over and it will spread; there is nothing like it. So we should keep short accounts with the Lord, ensuring we repent of our sin immediately and regularly, allowing God to purify us by His Spirit. In addition we should be willing to receive the rain from God - we should 'not stifle the Holy Spirit' (1 Thessalonians 5:19) but instead allow Him access to every area of our lives; He knows what is best for us and He loves us so much. Let's trust Him! Finally we must get strong roots by regularly getting stuck into the Word of God - not by just reading the Bible but by studying it ourselves and seeing what God has to say to us through Scripture. This is sometimes not practical to do in depth every day so we need to ask: 'what is our priority?' Are we keeping our diaries free so that we can grow in God or are we fitting Him around the busyness of our lives? Who do we think God is anyway? Our loving Creator and Redeemer, or a strict law giver who is out to spoil our fun?

The author concludes this thought with Hebrews 6:10-12: 'For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.'

The truth about God is here: He is not unjust. He is not looking for excuses to judge us, and will remember our love for Him and for others. The answer to not becoming 'spiritually dull and indifferent' and instead making 'certain that what you hope for will come true' is this: 'keep on loving others as long as life lasts' (verse 11). This should not be a whimpy, lifeless love but a love that is lived out through servant leadership, through making sacrifices and being active about looking out for one another. If there is ever an opportunity for us to help another believer then that is what we should do, we should be doing it right now and we should never stop doing it until life on this earth ceases. Then, instead of us falling away and losing our experience of life to the full, we will join those in the Hebrews 11 'Hall of Faith', confident in our eternity with Jesus!

"God's Words For US" from Cecelia Lester

Trusting God Yields Happiness