Hebrews 12

John Bunyan stated it well when he said, "We are apt to overshoot, in the days that are calm, and to think ourselves far higher, and more strong than we fid we be, when the trying day is upon us...We could not live without such turnings of the hand of God upon us.  We should be overgrown with flesh, if we had not our seasonable winters. It is said that in some countries trees will grow, but will bear no fruit, because there is no winter there." 

There is a purpose for everything under the sun!  

Hebrews 12

The Call to Endurance

 ¹ Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, ² keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter^] of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.

Fatherly Discipline

 ³ For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, so that you won’t grow weary and lose heart.⁴ In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵ And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly  or faint when you are reproved by Him, ⁶ for the Lord disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He receives. ⁷ Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? ⁸ But if you are without discipline—which all receive then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we had natural fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but He does it for our benefit, so that we can share His holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace and righteousness to those who have been trained by it. ¹² Therefore strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated^[g] but healed instead.

Warning against Rejecting God’s Grace

 ¹⁴ Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness without it no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵ Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and by it, defiling many. ¹⁶ And make sure that there isn’t any immoral or irreverent person like Esau, who sold his birthright in exchange for one meal.¹⁷ For you know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected because he didn’t find any opportunity for repentance, though he sought it with tears.

 ¹⁸ For you have not come to what could be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, gloom, and storm, ¹⁹ to the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of words. (Those who heard it begged that not another word be spoken to them, ²⁰ for they could not bear what was commanded: And if even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned! ²¹ The appearance was so terrifying that Moses said, I am terrified and trembling.) ²² Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels in festive gathering, ²³ to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written^[j] in heaven, to God who is the Judge of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus (mediator of a new covenant), and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.

 ²⁵ Make sure that you do not reject the One who speaks. For if they did not escape when they rejected Him who warned them on earth, even less will we if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven. ²⁶ His voice shook the earth at that time, but now He has promised, Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven. ²⁷ This expression, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what can be shaken that is, created things—so that what is not shaken might remain. ²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us hold on to grace.^[l] By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, ²⁹for our God is a consuming fire.