Five Powerful Key Activities When Life Feels so Daily
I recently chatted with a friend whose mom just passed away. Her mom had been on hospice, so her death was not unexpected. However, my friend admitted she was struggling to function. She described to me the last moments she shared with her mom. She told her mom she loved her, but she chose not to hug her because she herself was feeling sick. She wished she had done things differently; she wished she could embrace her mom one more time.
I have several friends struggling with the choices a family member is making. As I listen to them verbalize their fears and frustrations, I recognize several overarching questions. What do I say? How do I speak the truth in love? Why do another person’s choices fill me with such fear, disappointment, anger, and loss?
You may identify with one of these scenarios. Or you may be like me and feel as if winter has dragged on too long. I feel the excessive weight of dreary skies, cold wind and the world still draped in drab brown. I long for an abundance of colorful flowers, startling blue skies, and the warmth and brightness of the sun.
Battling our Moods and Emotions
Many of us fight a battle with our moods. We spend time reading God’s Word, we listen to worship music, and we converse with God. We make time to exercise, we eat healthy choices, we play some, and work some. We purposefully choose all the right things in an effort to successfully combat depression, discouragement, and defeat. Nevertheless, we feel like the girl in Mary Engelbreit’s drawing that says, “Life is just so daily.”
The author of Hebrews offers us insight. The book of Hebrews talks about the superiority of Christ and the superiority of the New Covenant. Each person who reads Hebrews is challenged to live out his or her faith with greater faithfulness and commitment because Christ offers a life better than any we imagine. In chapter 10, the author provides 5 key activities to empower us to live Christ’s better life, even when it feels “so daily.”
Insight from Hebrews
“Let us hold on to our confession of hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.”
Hebrews 10:23-25 CSB
Key Activity 1: Know the Hope you Confess.
We often connect the word confess with guilt and shame. People most commonly use the word confess when they admit to wrongdoing. The word actually means “to acknowledge or avow by way of revelation; to own or admit as true; to acknowledge one’s belief or faith in.” (dictionary.com) When we confess something we are declaring that something is true. I confess I love coffee, ice cream and M&Ms. I also confess I believe Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.
When the author of Hebrews tells his reader to “hold on to our confession of hope,” he makes two assumptions. The first assumption is the reader trusts Jesus Christ as the Messiah and believes He conquered death. The second assumption is the reader declares the hope of Jesus as truth to others; the reader doesn’t attempt to hide or disguise what she believes about Jesus.
We must begin with knowing and confessing our hope. If we want to live the better life Christ offers, we must not be ashamed of the gospel. We must value our relationship with God and give Him the priority He deserves as Sovereign Lord.
Key Activity 2: Hold onto Hope.
I found this phrase fascinating when I read it in various Bible translations. The New Living Translation says, “hold tightly without wavering.” The Amplified Version states, “seize and hold tightly.” The Passion Translation phrases it with greater imagery, “wrap your heart tightly around the hope that lives within us.” Lastly, Eugene Peterson in The Message says, “keep a firm grip.”
We hold our hope with a strong sense of determination, single-mindedness, and intensity. As I read the various translations, I even get a feeling of desperation, as if we must cling, clench, or clutch. It’s as if we are in a tug of war battle. We grip the rope as tight as we can, we dig in our heels, and we heave ho with all our weight. We are determined to win, and we are prepared to give all we have to gain the trophy.
Have you noticed that, sometimes, when you wait too long for something you’ve hoped for, you give up? The author of Hebrews reminds us not to waver over what we know is true. Tighten your grasp. Remember your passion for Jesus. Fixate your thoughts and your vision on the glory that is yet to come. Don’t allow emotions or fluctuating moods to chip away your relationship with the Father.
Key Activity 3: Remember God’s Faithfulness.
I’ve discovered when I recall all the ways God has been faithful, I effectively overcome doubt. When we recount God’s provision, presence, and goodness, we strengthen our knowledge of what is true, which consequently strengthens our hope.
I’m very aware there are seasons in life when we are overcome with grief, pain, or hardship, God’s past faithfulness has little impact on our emotion and/or attitude. We must choose to actively seek out God’s ongoing faithfulness. I call this the power of “and.”
So many things are true at the same time. For example, I remember in eighth grade when my grandmother died. My most vivid memory during that time is singing and laughing in the car with my siblings and my cousins. I recall thinking it odd we were enjoying ourselves so much. I now know I was experiencing the power of “and.” We were grieving AND we cherished one another. We would forever miss our Grandma Lucille AND we were blessed with each other.
We can re-envision so many moments in our lives when we consider “AND God.” God may not always fix every circumstance to fit our ideal, but He promises He will always provide what we truly need. The author of Hebrews reminds us in chapter 13, God will never leave us or abandon us, and He is our helper (verse 5-6). In verse 8 we read, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Therefore, all the things Jesus said and did with the disciples, for the disciples and through the disciples, He will do for us as well.
Key Activity 4: Involve Yourself in Relationship.
The author of Hebrews instructs us “…let us watch out for one another.” We are also to prod each other to be kind, helpful and loving. We can’t follow through on those instructions if we don’t choose to invest in creating relationships.
I think we read the verses in Hebrews 10 and walk away with the notion we are to always help others. We miss the idea of me helping you and you helping me. We are in this life, that is just so daily, together.
I love the fact that the author of Hebrews challenges us to do more than sit around and vent. The New Living Translation tells us we are to “think of ways to motivate one another.” The Passion Translation states, “discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them.” We need encouragement from each other to move us beyond wallowing in our grief and pain. Ecclesiastes tells us there is a season for everything, a time to laugh and a time to cry. However, we are not to dwell in one season, when a new season is being birthed. We each have the privilege of encouraging one another toward a new season when the time is right.
Hebrews 10:25 also reminds us to continue meeting together. The Amplified version adds “as believers for worship and instruction.” In today’s culture it’s easy to watch church online in one’s pajamas, with the coffee pot close by. Our ability to experience worship online when we are unable to leave home because of illness, or lack of transportation, or work schedule is truly a blessing. When we choose to “watch” church over experiencing the body of Christ in person, we miss out on the value of connection.
Key Activity 5: Focus on the Someday.
The verses we are studying today end with the phrase “and all the more as you see the day approaching.” The author of Hebrews is referring to the early church’s anticipation over Jesus’ return. They believed it would happen in their lifetime. Today’s church has lost much of that urgency. We talk about eternity, but it just feels far away.
Our hope is all wrapped up in the culmination of being in the presence of God, in His throne room. We will one day experience the wondrous moment of experiencing God in all His splendor and glory. The “daily-ness” of life will be long gone and we will fully know the better life God created us to live from the beginning.
Winning the Battle
I recognize my emotions aren’t good or bad, they just are. I believe it best not to ignore my emotions, and I know I shouldn’t allow them to dictate how each day goes. For each of us, regardless of what kind of emotion we are feeling, we must identify the source and validity of our emotion. That’s just sound emotional health.
Furthermore, we must “hold on to the confession of our hope.” Christ has a better life for us. He is our Messiah and He came to save us, offering us a glorious someday with God, the Father. As we wait in anticipation for the full and final reveal of God’s glory, God faithfully offers us grace for each and every day we live. When life becomes too daily, we must remember to factor in “And God,” as well as rely on each other to bolster our hope.
“So don’t throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith; and if he draws back, I have no pleasure in him. But we are not those who draw back and are destroyed, but those who have faith and are saved.”
Hebrews 10:36-39
Amen and amen.
Drab and Brown Photo by Iva Rajović on Unsplash
