Why Hold Fast and Press On

     Life is difficult at times.  Many of us can share times when things have been difficult.  Not always does difficutly come as something negative, sometimes it is disguised in something positive.  Examples of difficulties not looked on as positive are deployments, illnesses or death.  Illness and death are inconvenient, rarely planned and many times just plain hard.  A positive difficulty is a teen getting a driver's license or preparing to graduate.  All of these circumstances have happened in my life within the last 6 months.  The only thing that gives me the ability to continue and to do it well is my faith in Christ and what He has done and is still doing in my life.

     God in His wonderful wisdom has guided and directed me to be teaching through the book of Hebrews this year Precept upon Precept.  The verses that I am referencing as I share my perspective on how God is working in my life are Hebrews 4:14 and Hebrews 6:1.  

       

Hebrews 4:14 "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession."

Hebrews 6:1 "Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God."

        "Hold fast" in the Greek is "to have power over or become master of."  In this context we are to become dominant, become masters of our confession.  "Let us attain to the full benefit of," the full benefit of what?  We are to attain (grab hold or become master of) the full benefit of our confession that Jesus is the Messiah and He is now the ruler of our lives and all that implies.  This is contrasted with drifting away in Hebrews 2:1.  Drifting away implies the lack of mastery, one who is allowing the current to cause them to "go with the flow."  We can drift away in many ways, through allowing emotions to dictate instead of God's Word, following others instead of cultivating our own relationship with God, getting caught up in the "good" things we are doing, or just being complacent.  How ever we "drift away" we are responsible for our own drifting.  It is not the fault of the current we have not grabbed the rudder and taken hold and become master of our direction.  This is the holding fast, the taking of responsibility, the becoming convinced.

      When things are difficult is when we just want to survive and we tend to drift because it takes so much energy to become the master of our lives.  To be the master of our lives and hold fast to that confession, we need God's help.  Our lives were given to us by God and redeemed through His Son Jesus, our lives are not our own and we are to accurately represent  our God to others by taking the control that is ours. This is how we glorify our God.  We can only know what control we have and how to wield that control when know what God would want us to do.  We find that out through studying His Word and knowing Him.

      Once we have gained control and have the rudder firmly in hand we are to "press on."  What are we to press on toward?  Maturity in Christ is our goal.  We are to be conformed to the image of Christ, that happens as we pursue, endure and press on toward maturity.  We are to strive to deal with situations the way Christ would deal with them to the best of our knowledge (with guidance from the Holy Spirit). There is no formula or to do list that shows us how we need to be confomred to Chirst's image.  It is an individual journey. 

     As I write this blog, as often as I feel God has given me something to say, I am going to share how I Hold Fast and Press On in the areas of life and situations God is working on in me.  God gives me the strength to "hold fast and press on" as well as providing the circumstances where I can excercise what that looks like.  I will fail at times but that is how I learn.  I have been told a number of times I should write what I usually say one on one or in Bible Study and share it with more people, it has been over a year since I was first confronted with this idea and after much prayer here I am.  My purpose in writing is to encourage others and comfort them.  I am not here to debate but would love feed back and I will try to answer questions if you have any.  I can only testify to what God is doing in my life and I trust Him completely with it.  

Desiring to Hold Fast and Press On,

Teresa

References:
The New Inductive Study Bible, New American Standard Version. Harvest House Publishers. Eugene, OR. 1960.
Zodhiates, Spiros. The Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament.  AMG Publishing, Chattanooga, TN. 1992.