PPic: Oberon Golf Course - Links Pro Am 2006

PGA Chaplain Bible Studies

Weekly Bible Study - Study 10 - The Book of Hebrews Ch 3:7-11

“So, as the Holy Spirit says: Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as they did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, “Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.” So I declared on oath in my anger, “They shall never enter my rest.”” (Hebrew Chapter 3: verses 7 to 11 New International Version)

Rules are important!

Have you ever tried playing golf without rules? While it can be fun, golf loses all its challenge and desire for excellence. Without judgments that go hand in hand with rules when they are broken, there can be no measuring between the good and the bad.
Rules provide the boundaries we work within and the pitfalls to avoid if we are to track our ball to the hole in the least number of shots. In every area of life this is the case, without boundaries and rules life is not possible. The reason for this is the deceptive and selfish human heart that exists along with our potential to love, be creative, be honest and care for others.

We played our club championships recently and one player in my group raked the sand in the bunker before playing his shot out of the bunker. It seems like a trivial rule to many but it is a rule of golf that this is not allowed. A 2 shot penalty followed.
When God establishes a relationship with us that we call a covenant or a testament along with this favour and blessing comes certain responsibilities. In this covenant we receive the love mercy and favour of God through the death of Jesus who took our judgment for us and gave us new life. As a result of this we are to live as his people and follow the way of life he has given us. There is a difference between the laws of the Old Testament to the New and our writer demonstrated in our last study how Jesus as a son was greater than Moses who delivered the Laws of the Old Testament.

Because something greater has happened when Jesus came there is a greater responsibility to be faithful to the way of life God has given us through Jesus. Now the important point is that we do not go in and out of favour with God when we go astray. All of us regret things we say and do. The true test is the matter of our hearts and our desire to live the way God has given us in Jesus. Jesus died for our sins and our turning back and confessing our sins keeps the relationship alive and honest. When you start justifying your sins or ignoring them, then you are showing contempt for God and what Jesus has done, and you take yourself outside the relationship that God has established.

In the Old Testament the people of God failed to enter the Promised Land because of unbelief, refusing to believe the Promises of God. Our relationship with Jesus involves a greater commitment because we receive so much more and we are warned here to take seriously the call to follow Jesus no matter what the cost. We learn about the ways of Jesus from the New Testament. I encourage you if you are a believer and a follower of Jesus, to pick up your bible and read of the life Jesus calls us to live.

Prayer, Lord give me the courage to follow your ways even when it is costly. Amen.

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